FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. —
When employees at ADT headquarters in Boca Raton need a flu shot or are suddenly feeling ill, they don’t have to leave the building for medical care.
In May, ADT security firm joined a growing number of large companies, including JM Family Enterprises, Royal Caribbean and City Furniture, by adding on-site health clinics for employees and their families.
With health care and workers’ compensation insurance major expenses for employers, some companies find economical to build on-site clinics. Convenient medical services can minimize time off work and prompt workers to get preventative care. On-site clinics tell workers they’re valued and help with employee recruitment, companies say.
Anita Graham, ADT’s human resources chief, said the company’s clinic makes preventive care easy for workers. “People either put off treatment or going for a physical, and they end up going to an emergency room, worsening their health outcome,” she said.
Since ADT opened its clinic a few weeks ago, “I’ve been there three times,” said Jodi Calfee, manager of interior design. Calfee, 34, has a 2 -year-old son and has visited ADT’s clinic for a cold and sinus infection.
“I get all the day-care colds,” she said.
ADT, which has 700 employees in Boca Raton, sees reducing the spread of colds and flu in the workplace as one benefit. Employees can schedule physical exams, blood work, vaccinations and health screenings at the clinic, as well as visit for emergency needs. The clinic is staffed with a nurse practitioner from Tenet Florida.
Tenet also has opened a clinic at Royal Caribbean Cruise headquarters at Port Miami. The clinic opened in September and is providing primary care to employees and their families.
Companies adding health care services often look to JM Family Enterprises, which has had on-site health services since 1989 on its Deerfield Beach campus.
JM Family has three full-time doctors on staff and visiting doctors who specialize in obstetrics and gynecology. Its Deerfield Beach clinic has been well-used, with its 1,400 employees making a total of 13,000 clinic visits in 2011.
While many health clinic visits are routine, one JM Family employee found the company clinic a lifeline.
Morris Castaneda, 40, complained to a clinic doctor of trouble swallowing and an earache that wouldn’t go away. The doctor referred him to a gastrointestinal specialist, and he was diagnosed with esophageal cancer. He had chemotherapy, radiation and surgery.
The clinics’ doctors and nurses were there for him, providing physical and emotional support, he said. “They guided me through the entire process,” said Castaneda, who said he’s now cancer-free.
Tamarac-based City Furniture is modeling its clinic, opening in late July, on JM Family’s. City Furniture has partnered with Holy Cross Hospital, which is providing a nurse practitioner to care for City Furniture’s 925 employees and dependents, for free.
Janet Wincko, human resources director, said it will be less expensive for the company if workers see the nurse practitioner than visit an urgent care center or outside provider.
The company also sees the clinic as a benefit that will attract new workers. “It helps us to be an employer of choice,” she said.
Business
Employers aim to trim health costs with on-site clinics
- Business
-
-
Stocks mixed as investors reassess Fed worries
Investors recovered their poise by midday Thursday after an early sell-off sent stocks sharply lower.
-
Between economy and trouble, Obama approval steady
The economy is recovering, the White House is dealing with multiple controversies, and President Barack Obama appears generally unaffected either way.
-
Other companies challenging contraception mandate
Hobby Lobby Stores Inc. is challenging the part of the federal health care law that requires for-profit companies to offer employees health coverage that includes products the business owners find morally objectionable, such as certain types of contraception.
-
Stricken Japan nuke plant struggles to keep staff
Keeping the meltdown-stricken Fukushima nuclear plant in northeastern Japan in stable condition requires a cast of thousands. Increasingly the plant’s operator is struggling to find enough workers, a trend that many expect to worsen and hamper progress in the decades-long effort to safely decommission it.
-
Birth control coverage up for federal appeal
In the most prominent challenge of its kind, Hobby Lobby Stores Inc. is asking a federal appeals court Thursday for an exemption from part of the federal health care law that requires it to offer employees health coverage that includes access to the morning-after pill.
-
Ammonia leak at Kan. plant sends 7 to hospital
Seven people have been released from an Emporia hospital after an ammonia leak at the city’s Tyson Foods plant.
-
Markets roiled by Nikkei’s 7.3 percent slide
Financial markets around the world were roiled Thursday after Japanese stocks suffered their biggest slide since the country was hit by a devastating tsunami more than two years ago.
-
BP donates $500K to Moore tornado relief effort
Oil company BP is donating $500,000 to the tornado relief effort in Moore.
-
First Look: New Xbox elegant, but much unknown
Will gamers want One?
-
Median CEO pay rises to $9.7 million in 2012
CEO pay has been going in one direction for the past three years: up.
- More Business Headlines
-
Officials: Truck Hit Bridge Before Collapse
Sheriff: No Sign Killing of 2 Kids Was Planned
Obama Defends Drone Strikes, With Limits
Raw: Jurors Deadlock on Jodi Arias Penalty
Boy Scouts Decision "First Step" Say Activists
Raw: Utah Teen Arrested in Death of His Brothers
Closer Look at Okla. School Where Children Died
Two Suspects in Murder Known to London Police
Boy Scouts Mom Supports Gay Inclusiveness
"Be Ready": NOAA Warns of Busy Hurricane Season
SeaWorld: Penguins Are Coolest Thing in Florida
Obama Renews Call to Close Gitmo
Obama Offers Drone Strike Defense
Raw: Heckler Interrupts Obama on Guantanamo
A Slice of Apple History Up for Grabs
