CAPP Physician Group: HealthPartners
Project: Worksite Clinics

Summary: HealthPartners has partnered with five employer groups to open clinics at Minnesota worksites after a successful workplace clinic opening at Grede Foundries.

In 2005, Grede Foundries, a 450-employee manufacturer of metal castings in St. Cloud, Minnesota, experienced 25 catastrophic employee medical claims, each costing more than $50,000. The financial impact was devastating. Many of the cases involved medical conditions, such as diabetes and premature births that may have been avoided had employees sought out appropriate preventive care. Desperate for a solution, the company turned to HealthPartners for help.

HealthPartners of Minnesota found that the average annual medical expenses for a healthy employee were approximately $2,010, compared to $7,068 for an employee with diabetes and $10,800 for an employee with heart disease. Their solution was to give Grede employees worksite access to basic primary care medical services through a worksite clinic. The strategy was to increase employee access and use of important health-improving and cost-saving preventive services.

The worksite clinic provides a convenient location for employees to have blood pressure checks, cholesterol screening, and other simple primary care services, as well as diagnosis and treatment of common ailments and wellness services.

Advanced Practice Providers staff the clinic, and a physician is available for consultation at all times via phone. Clinic staff immediately refer patients with serious medical conditions to the appropriate healthcare provider. Employees can make appointments online or by telephone.

Shortly after opening the worksite clinic in 2005, clinic staff diagnosed three Grede employees with diabetes who didn’t know they had the disease. When properly treated, these employees may avoid medical complications and enjoy a better health and quality of life. As a result, Grede may have three healthy, productive workers and may reduce its overall health care costs an average of $7,000 per year for each of the three employees.

Worksite clinics also extend patient access to coordinated care by using the same electronic medical record (EMR) as the patients’ primary care clinics at HealthPartners. As a result, a patient’s regular doctor and specialists all have a more complete, up-to-date picture of their patient’s health.

Since 2005, HealthPartners has partnered with five other employer groups to open clinics at Minnesota worksites, serving a total of more than 5,000 patients. Employers across the country are now showing interest in the concept.

For more information about this project or an interview with Marcus Thygeson, M.D. of HealthPartners, please contact Joe Dangor at (952) 883-5223.

Integrating Services for Low-Income Seniors Shows Health Care Benefit, by Claire Sowerbutt, Contributing Writer, MedPage Today, December 11, 2007.

INDIANAPOLIS, Dec. 11 -- For low-income seniors, the likelihood of providing the recommended standard of health care services could be enhanced by integrating home-based and institutional services, found researchers here.

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“From High Tech to Soft Touch: The Everett Clinic uses innovative ways to control health care costs,” by Bryan Corliss, Washington CEO, November 26, 2007.

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“CAPP’s 35 MSMGs [multispecialty medical groups] share a common vision as learning organizations dedicated to the improvement of clinical care. Their features include physician leadership and governance; commitment to evidence-based care management processes; well-developed quality improvement systems; team-based care; the use of advance clinical information technology; and the collection, analysis, and distribution of clinical performance information. These features are congruent with the [Institute of Medicine’s] recommendations on key elements needed to redesign delivery systems.”

From Chapter 5, “Developing the Test Bed—Linking Integrated Service Delivery Systems: Council of Accountable Physician Practices,” by Michael A. Mustile, MD. The Learning Healthcare System: Workshop Summary (IOM Roundtable on Evidence-Based Medicine), edited by LeighAnne Olsen, Dara Aisner, and J. Michael McGinnis, National Academies Press, 2007.

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“A shift from the current care model to a more coordinated care model centered on primary care is one potential way to help stave off the healthcare dilemma.”

“It's too expensive to be a primary-care doctor,” by Debra A. Geihsler, president and CEO of Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates & Atrius Health. Boston Globe, July 25, 2007.

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