Employers looking to keep health care costs in check are increasingly turning to onsite clinics and health screenings, both of which are becoming more comprehensive. Earlier this year, Walgreens announced the opening of what it called one of the country's most comprehensive worksite health centers at BMW Manufacturing's facility in Spartanburg, S.C. Some 25,000 square feet, the Associates' Family Health Center offers not just occupational care, but full primary care services for BMW employees and their dependents, as well as some retirees.
Starting small with onsite pharmacy
Bill Raulerson, director of site operations with Walgreens' Take Care Health Systems, says BMW started small, first opening an onsite pharmacy seven years ago.
The pharmacy, opened in July of 2005, "turned out to be very successful. And it eventually led to the full-blown health center we now have," says Raulerson.
Similarly, the biometric screenings and health risk assessments patients can undergo at BMW's facility are also a step above what many might expect. While many companies screen for unhealthy body mass index, not many have an onsite location where employees can go to start addressing it.
"We've had a diabetes management program in place for about five years; it's been very successful," Raulerson says. "And we've also started on a hypertension program and a cholesterol program that give face-to-face interactions: the diabetes with pharmacists, the hypertension and cholesterol with a disease-management nurse. So I think that really gives us the ability to positively impact these patients in ways that just not typical with biometric screening."
Depth of screening
And just how indepth is that screening?
"I think we're really taking it multiple steps further than what most plans would do," Raulerson says. "We actually offer a pretty comprehensive set of labs that go far beyond just the typical lipid panel screening. We do a complete blood cell count and metabolic panel. We have the patient do an HRA, do those labs and then follow up with a provider visit, versus just that five- or 10-minute coaching session with a nurse after a finger stick. ... We can refer those patients into the various wellness-type programs that we have onsite."
Patients can "literally walk over" to the appropriate service line, says Camille Reams, manager of health and productivity for BMW.
"In terms of the comprehensive health assessment or the biometric screening, what we also hope is that it's a nice introduction to the service or to the health center," Reams says. "I just had a conversation with a colleague yesterday who went through her comprehensive health assessment and, as a result of meeting with her provider, is moving her care over, and that would not have happened had she not kind of stuck her big toe in with the health assessment."
Not mandatory
The facility offers dental and optical services, X-rays and mobile mammography scans. Reams says she "would hope that all members of BMW would choose the Associates' Family Health Center as their medical home, but in no way is it mandatory or required."
BMW makes preventive care free wherever it is taken, and everyone knows employees don't leap at the chance to change their doctors, but with a "significantly reduced copay," Raulerson says the company is going for the stick, not the carrot.
"BMW employees get a discount for coming here," Raulerson says. "It's not that they're financially penalized for maintaining their current doctors, and we feel like once we get them in the door, we'll be able to win them over because of the service and the quality that we provide. But we do promote that if you want to keep your regular doctor and just use us when you can't get in, then that's OK."
Reams agrees, adding: "Or if your physician orders an X-ray or some physical therapy, this is not an all-or-nothing package. You can receive care out in the community and choose to have your tests done here."
