Fieldale Farms did not wait for a Supreme Court decision to craft a new approach to its employee health plan.
The north Georgia poultry company, with 4,500 employees, decided years ago to see whether it could save money by helping workers stay healthy and by offering them a Fieldale-only primary-care clinic for routine health problems.
The forward-thinking experiment paid off: Fieldale spends about $4,500 a year on health care per employee, compared with a national average of about $10,000.
The company uses everything from gift cards to low out-of-pocket costs to entice workers to get annual physicals, stay on their medications and turn to the company clinic instead of the ER when suffering from the flu.
"We incentivize rather than force," said Denise Ivester, Fieldale's group health and wellness manager. "I think everybody wants to be healthy. It's whether they have the time or finances to take care of themselves."
Georgia employers focused last week on what the Supreme Court's health care decision would mean to them. The most sweeping changes coming to many companies, however, may be found in the Fieldale playbook instead of the fine print of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
Fieldale's low costs actually reflect higher quality of care because serious conditions are being detected earlier and chronic conditions are being managed more effectively, said Paul Burns of Buck Consultants, which helps Fieldale manage its health plan.
The Fieldale-only primary care clinics are a core part of Fieldale's strategy. But the key to the plan's success comes from taking a more prevention-oriented approach in which every player — from nurse practitioners at the clinic to specialists handling complex cases — works together to coordinate care, Burns said.
"The ability to access high-quality health care through an on-site clinic is tough to beat," Burns said. "Convenience, quality of care and affordability drive the clinic's popularity. Fieldale can't keep the clinic open long enough."
The company contracts with a subsidiary of Walgreens to run its Fieldale-only clinic and pharmacy in Baldwin, the rural North Georgia community where the company is based. This year it will open another clinic in Gainesville, where many of its employees also come to work.
When a Fieldale employee or family member gets sick, the clinic can usually see the patient the same day or the following day. Employees make a $15 co-pay which can be covered through a payroll deduction.
When an employee has a complex health problem, the Fieldale plan has a network of specialists available to provide the care.
The company tells its employees to go the emergency room if they're having chest pains or a child just broke his arm. But those who go to the ER for non-emergencies pay half the cost — much more than a $15 visit to the clinic, Ivester said.
Fieldale was hoping that the Supreme Court would overturn the health care law. The company preferred not to have the feds dictate what was in its plan. But the court decision doesn't change Fieldale's strategy.
"With or without health care reform changes are coming," Ivester said.
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