By Debra McCown
Reporter / Bristol Herald Courier
Published: August 23, 2008
BRISTOL, Va. – In a trend some say is the return of the company doctor, Bristol Compressors cut the ribbon Friday on an employee health clinic. The clinic will provide more convenient medical services to employees while saving them and the company money, said Holly Bays, manager of employee benefits for Bristol Compressors.
Bays said it will enable employees to develop a doctor-patient relationship so they won’t avoid the doctor when they need care. An added plus is that they won’t have to take vacation time to see a doctor.
“Our employees are very, very, very excited about this,” she said.
Bristol Compressors is the first company in the Tri-Cities region to open an on-site clinic like this one, said Chris Brown, chief executive officer of Integra Health Management, the Charlotte, N.C.-based company that will operate it.
But, he said, companies around the nation are doing the same.
Five years ago, fewer than 5 percent of companies with more than 1,000 employees had built or studied the idea of building a clinic, he said. Now, the figure is between 30 percent and 40 percent, he said.
“It just hasn’t taken off here in the Tri-Cities area yet, but we hope it will,” he said.
Representatives of other area employers, including large companies like Food City and Alpha Natural Resources, attended the ribbon-cutting and asked questions.
Michael Ferracci, CEO of Appalachian Cast Products, said company clinics are likely to become a trend in this area.
“It has to, because health care ... it’s out of sight” said Ferracci, whose company employs about 130 people.
Bays said the clinic at Bristol Compressors will allow employees and their covered dependents – a total of about 2,400 people – to use the clinic for a $10 co-payment and receive a month’s supply of certain generic prescriptions for a $5 co-pay.
She said the hope is that by providing easy access to routine and preventive care, the company will reduce costly emergency room and urgent care visits.
All employees have access to health insurance through the company, she said, but some do not enroll. All of the company’s 1,029 employees, who earn an average wage of about $15 an hour, will be able to use the clinic, she said.
Human Resources Director Rick Nunley said in an era of skyrocketing health care costs, businesses no longer have the luxury of paying health insurance claims alone. They must take a longer term approach by investing in employee “wellness” and preventive care, he said.
“If you can have plans in place to address the issues of diabetes, hypertension and heart disease today, then you get to reduce your costs tomorrow,” he said.
The clinic opening is an encouraging sign for company employees, who have faced a many uncertainty in recent years after a series of layoffs drastically cut the company’s work force.
The company, whose future was up in the air until it was bought by KPS Capital Partners last year, remains one of Bristol’s largest employers.
Engineering Systems Administrator Charlotte Stewart said the idea for the on-site clinic came with the company’s new management.
“I think it’s a new concept to this area that a lot of us are unfamiliar with and looking forward to making it work,” Stewart said.
Dennis Stiltner, an engineering lab employee, likes the idea, too.
“It’ll save money for them and keep us a job, and save money for us, too, so it’s good all the way around,” he said.
