When Dr. Chad Perkins sees Vectren employees, he can spend an average of 20 minutes with each.
At his private practice, the length of patient visits often falls to between five and 15 minutes. The extra time at Vectren is just one of the benefits the company sees from a clinic opened at its Governor Street call center in December.
Holly Joseforsky, Vectren manager of health and welfare plans, said the clinic is ultimately meant to help Vectren reduce what it spends on helping employees get health care.
The goal hasn't been reached yet, in part because the cost of building the clinic must be considered. Still, it at least appears to be paying for itself. "I think it will save money," Joseforsky said. "I can't pinpoint if it will be this year."
Novia CareClinics receives an administrative fee from Vectren in return for operating the clinic.
Novia also buys the medical supplies, medicine and equipment needed by patients and passes that cost directly to Vectren. The clinic is popular. Services there are offered for free to the 350 employees and their dependents. Patients can go to the clinic for routine medical procedures, such as blood tests, lesion removals, biopsies, gynecological examinations and pediatric care. More intensive work, such as major surgeries and radiology, must still be done elsewhere. By late June, 1,026 appointments had been scheduled at the clinic.
Susan Anthony, a Vectren supervisor, said she goes almost every month to have her blood pressure checked and other tests performed.
"It's the best thing that has happened to this company in 35 years," she said. Vectren sees other benefits. Allowing employees to visit a doctor at work keeps them away from their desk less than if they went to an office elsewhere. Productivity has increased as a result.
Joseforsky and others believe the clinic has helped Vectren retain employees who may have been tempted to go to the AT&T call center in Evansville, which opened in October 2007.
As for saving money, company officials say that benefit won't take long to appear, Joseforsky said. A survey of employees once revealed that nearly 57 percent of workers at the call center were not undergoing yearly medical exams, according to Joseforsky.
By making it easier for employees to see a doctor, Vectren hopes to prevent illnesses that would prove extraordinarily expensive if they went undiscovered and untreated.
Vectren established its clinic through a contract with Novia CareClinics, an Indianapolis company. It guarantees that a doctor or nurse is at the call center four days a week, for a total of 25 hours.
Perkins runs the clinic along with his wife, Kelly, also a doctor. On average, they and the nurses see around nine patients a day, which comes to two or three an hour.
Perkins said that time presents a strong contrast to what is offered at many private practices. At Vectren, he and his staff can delve more deeply into the causes of ailments by discussing them longer with employees. They also can place emphasis on how important losing weight, quitting smoking or taking similar steps can be to a patient's health.
As for compensation, Perkins is still able to make more money through his private practice. But as company clinics become more popular, the day may not be far off when working at one is just as lucrative, he said.
"There are a lot of businesses that would be wise to look at this," he said.
Eric Olson, president of Novia CareClinics, said his company has opened 10 clinics throughout Indiana. Not all are at businesses. Governments, school corporations and charities also have used the service.
Vectren is just one of several companies in the Evansville area to take this approach in recent years. Perhaps most prominently, Toyota opened a pharmacy at its factory in Princeton. Employees can go there to get generic drugs free of charge. Name brands also are offered, but most can only be obtained if employees agree to share part of the expense.
Tony Dillon, manager of human resources at the plant, said the pharmacy issues more than 200 prescriptions a day on average. Through that may seem a great expense, the company has saved large sums of money by directing employees to cheaper generic brands.
Reducing the cost of health care and other employee expenses is of particular importance to Toyota at this time: The company has often said it will avoid laying off any of the 4,500 people who work at its Princeton plant, even as it makes large changes in what is produced there. In August, the company said it would stop make the Tundra pickup there. It also plans to suspend the production of the Sequoia sport utility vehicle until November.
"We are seeing good financial results (from the pharmacy)," Dillon said. "Wherever possible we pass that on to team members."
Dillon said Toyota's factory in San Antonio, which is the only place where the Tundra is now produced, operates a clinic similar to the one at Vectren. That clinic appears to be succeeding, but Toyota has no plans to open one in Princeton. "We will reflect on the Texas situation and decide if that's the best direction or not," he said.
Vectren is likewise trying to decide if it will add clinics to other buildings it operates in the Evansville area, including its headquarters along the Riverfront. Support for an expansion is certainly strong among employees.
"It's hard to ignore how much the patients like it," Perkins said.
"Clinical Benefit," Evansville Business Journal, September 2008, pgs. 25-27.
