St. John's Hospital in Springfield, Ill., and Horace Mann Educators Corp., a national insurance company, have teamed up with physician organization HSHS Medical Group to open an employer-sponsored health clinic in Springfield.
Both St. John's and Horace Mann are self-insured. Employees of each entity must use their respective employer's plan at the clinic. The clinic will also be available to employees' dependents.
Melinda Clark, CEO of HSHS Medical Group, said the partnership with Horace Mann was appealing since St. John's and Horace Mann are significant Springfield employers. St. John's, a 430-bed hospital, employs nearly 3,000 area residents, while Horace Mann has approximately 1,000 employees. in its Springfield office, 800 of which are enrolled in Horace Mann health plans. St. John's and Horace Mann are less than a block from each other and the clinic was built between them.
“Employees can walk across the street (for their care),” said Kathi Karr, Horace Mann's vice president of human resources finance. “Time and convenience are huge for our employees.”
The clinic is expected to reduce healthcare costs because both HSHS Medical Group and Horace Mann will offer discounts, according to a press release announcing the clinic. There will be no co-pay for St. John's employees, while Horace Mann will offer reduced clinic rates to its employees.
Mike La Penna, principal at healthcare consultancy La Penna Group, said businesses with self-insured plans have tremendous cost-savings advantages when they provide care to their employees—and technology advances have made it easier for them to do so.
Employers, especially hospitals, closely track data on costs and other investments, which allows them to easily predict what programs and investments will generate cost savings, La Penna said.
“Ten years ago (employee health clinics) were just a good idea with no data,” he said. “Now they've got quite a bit of data connected with them.”
The clinic is still under construction and is scheduled to open in early 2016. HSHS Medical Group projects an estimated 10,000 people will use the clinic in its first year. The clinic will provide non-emergency care, including flu shots and immunizations, and plans to employ two nurse practitioners and a supervising physician.
HSHS Medical Group plans to open additional clinics in Springfield and throughout Illinois in the coming year.
