On-site medical clinic ACCLAIMED
Construction firm, its employees all accrue savings
Albuquerque-based Jaynes Corp. has made its mark building almost anything that a public or private client wants: schools, churches, banks, laboratories and shopping centers.
But, for its employees, one of the most popular spaces is a modest building on its campus that houses a medical clinic for metroarea Jaynes workers and their dependents.
Since opening a few months back, a certified nurse practitioner conducts yearly physicals, handles basic primary care needs, and administers first aid and flu shots. She’ll also diagnose illnesses, prescribe and dispense medications, and make referrals to regular doctors and specialists.
After consulting with employees and assuring them that all information related to visits would be confidential, as mandated by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, Jaynes built the clinic with its own crews to give its 300 employees — and 500 dependents — access to quality care, but also to reduce lost employee productivity and to keep overall medical premium rates lower, said Tracy Utterback, chief financial officer for Jaynes. Utterback counted down the reasons that other Albuquerque employers with as few as a couple of hundred employees are considering on-site health care: “To keep people on the job, to reduce claims, and to give employees and dependents greater access to improve their health.”
Typically, workplace clinics are found at companies that are selfinsured and have large numbers of geographically concentrated employees. Increasingly, relatively smaller companies, such as Jaynes, Don Chalmers Ford and TLC Plumbing & Utility, are launching on-site health clinics staffed by a nurse or a physician assistant.
“We consulted with them a bit” to see how it works out, said Utterback of Chalmers and TLC.
Confidentiality was critical if the effort was to be successful, said Utterback. “There has to be a firewall between the data and the employer,” he said of an employee benefit that is not free,
but “is very low cost.” The 1,000-square-foot facility is located on a “remote part” of the Jaynes campus at 2906 Broadway NE.
He declined to say how much it cost to build and staff the clinic, but said, “We felt that associated costs of the clinic could be offset by decreases in our self-insured medical plan costs.”
Appointments are handled on a computerized system and the clinic’s certified nurse practitioner, Eleanor Miranda, sees patients between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m.
“We are an ‘early’ company,” Utterback said. “We may be pouring concrete at a job site at 4 or 5 in the morning.
“Employees say it is one of the most thoughtful benefits we’ve provided,” he said.