Tulsa World
More Employers Using On-site Clinics
The clicking of Lisa Luker's heart reminds her daily of how her employer's decision to provide on-site health care saved her life.
"My cardiologist says I may not even be here now," she said, her eyes tearing up.
A quick blood test with the doctor who practices at Luker's place of employment helped detect a heart problem. She was sent to a specialist and had open-heart surgery to re place her heart valve with a mechanical one.
"It clicks. I can hear it right now," Luker said. "It just reminds me that I'm alive."
The 44-year-old Tulsan is not one to go to the doctor on a whim. But the convenience and accessibility of the on-site health clinic provided by her employer, FW Murphy, prompted her to undergo a personal health assessment.
"They called me and said there were all kinds of red flags on my report," she said.
Luker's heart, a kidney and her gallbladder were in question. She was referred to specialists and ended up having her gallbladder and the kidney removed and a mechanical valve placed in her heart -- three surgeries within six months.
"I would never go to the doctor," she said. "I thought I was perfectly healthy."
FW Murphy is one of 37 self-insured employers that have contracted with Tulsa's Care ATC to establish an on-site health clinic.
Nearly half of Care ATC's clients are in the Tulsa area, including QuikTrip and Bama Cos. Inc. The rest are outside the state, said Care ATC founder Ron Woods.
With a $10,000 to $12,000 investment by an employer, Care ATC basically places a fully operable, staffed and equipped health clinic at a site chosen by the employer, he said.
That relatively small investment has saved companies millions of dollars just by preventing and managing chronic disease, Woods said.
The 7-year-old company is growing as employers catch on to the benefits of investing in their employees' health, he said.
"In the last five months, we've doubled in size. We expect to double in size again in 2008," Woods said.
The key to the company's success, he believes, is that Care ATC has found a way to do on-site clinics better than other companies, and differently.
"Most of them still charge co-pays, and people come in only because they are sick or hurt," he said.
At Care ATC clinics, employees get free exams, free medications and free personal health assessments, which consist of complete blood counts, thyroid tests and other critical screenings.
Because those assessments are kept in one document, the physician can more closely monitor incremental changes that may signal a health problem.
Dr. Patti Shaw, one of two Care ATC medical directors, said preventing and managing chronic illness is the goal.
"We're there to detect disease, prevent disease and manage chronic illness. By doing that, we keep people healthy and save employers money by preventing catastrophic claims," she said.
All medical information is kept private under federal guidelines, and employers are never given information specific to a patient's health, Shaw said.
She said companies are provided "bulk information" that helps target specific health campaigns for employees, such as smoking cessation or weight loss programs.
Employees still have their health insurance plans available when they need to see specialists, but many claim the on-site doctor as their primary physician.
"I think anytime you have the ability to do health and wellness programs under the guidance of a doctor, their success is enhanced," said Justin Bray, FW Murphy's vice president of human resources.
The company has offered a smoking-cessation program and a weight-loss campaign, all under the guidance of the on-site physician. Luker lost 70 pounds through the company's Biggest Loser campaign.
"The convenience factor is absolutely phenomenal. Transportation, getting someone to watch your kids . . . those things are taken completely out of the equation," Bray said.
While many employers care about their employees, companies often are reeled in by the bottom line.
"If a company averages 15 large claims of $25,000 or more a year, putting in a clinic will reduce that to three or four large claims a year," he said. As a result of having Care ATC, Bray said FW Murphy's medical costs per employee are 20 percent below the national average.
"Your high claims are what really eat your lunch," he said. "We're really catching some of that early on so we can get ourselves out of those costly situations." Woods said results have shown Care ATC not only stops medical costs from rising, but lowers costs.
"My mission is a healthier population," he said. "Saving money is the result of doing the right thing. But it's not the goal."