Parkview Employer Solutions had a ribbon-cutting ceremony and open house Thursday, Nov. 9, with the Kosciusko Chamber of Commerce for Parkview’s newest shared employer clinic at 1021 Mariners Drive, Warsaw. Pictured from left are Scott Wiley, Chamber member relations manager; Dr. Greg Johnson, regional market president for Parkview Health; Scott Gabriel, market president, Parkview Health Northwest; Melissa McKown, Parkview Employer Solutions vice president; Bradley Kopecky, manager of the employer clinics; Dr. Angela LaSalle, medical director, Parkview Employee Solutions; and Rob Parker, Kosciusko Chamber president and CEO and Main Street Warsaw executive director. Photo by David Slone.

By David Slone
Times-Union

WARSAW — Parkview Employer Solutions has opened their second shared employer clinic, this one in Kosciusko County.

The other shared employer clinic opened in July in Allen County.

To celebrate the shared employer clinic, occupational health clinic and Employee Assistance Program office under one roof at 1021 Mariners Drive, Warsaw, Parkview had a ribbon-cutting ceremony and open house with the Kosciusko Chamber of Commerce Thursday, Nov. 9.

Dr. Greg Johnson, regional market president for Parkview Health, explained in an interview before the ceremony, “We provide services for members – so employers – that join the clinic. We provide services to their co-workers and dependents, and those services range from a walk-in clinic to general medical care to we can do what’s called point-of-care testing for (common) labs. And also provide a small formulary of medications to the co-workers that are using the employer clinic.”

Historically, employer clinics were for large companies as only large companies had enough co-workers to be able to afford an employer clinic, he said. “Our model is called a shared employer clinic, so even if you have five or 10 co-workers, you can be part of this clinic, and you work through what’s called Parkview Employer Solutions and we have a team that helps companies become members of the employer clinic.”

Healthcare costs are a concern for most people. With the shared employer clinic, Johnson said the employer covers the cost of coming to the clinic. “Once they’re paying for their employees to come here — their co-workers to come here — if they come here, there’s no claims generated so there’s no further insurance billing, there’s no co-worker contribution to it. And the reason employers like it is that it helps keep the cost of care down,” Johnson said.

He said it was “absolutely” good for the employees, too – convenience, access and Parkview quality of care all play significant roles.

The appointments at the employer clinic generally are a little longer than a typical physician/healthcare provider appointment. They run about 30 minutes versus the 10-15 minutes at other places, he stated.

“Part of that reason is really taking care of the co-worker that is using the clinic to ensure that we are doing everything we can to keep them as healthy and as productive as possible because that’s what the employer is looking for, as well as the employee,” Johnson explained.

The new clinic will become a hub for three employer resources, bringing together two offices that had previously operated separately in Warsaw, as well as adding a new service to the community, according to a previously provided news release.

Parkview Occupational Health had kept an office at the Parkview Physicians Group office in the Parkview Warsaw facility, while EAP served clients at the nearby YMCA. The new Kosciusko County Clinic relocated those two offices to the new building and became the home of Parkview’s second shared employer clinic, which local businesses can utilize for the healthcare needs of their employees, the release stated.

The Kosciusko County Clinic is just a little down the road from Parkview Kosciusko Hospital, which will have 28 hospital beds opening on Jan. 9 with new operating rooms, too. It will become a full-service hospital, Johnson said, compared to what it has been.

Johnson said the shared employer clinic with the three employer resources was located in a building separate from the hospital primarily due to costs.

“Hospital space is extremely costly, and if we are trying to keep our costs down to provide healthcare at the best cost, having it as a standalone is much less expensive, just from an overhead perspective,” he said.

The other reason is convenience. Many people don’t want to walk into a hospital for a physicians/provider appointment. The ease of access plays another key role, Johnson stated. The segregation between different levels of care is a lot of times really important so that a person with a cold or the flu isn’t being sent into a hospital setting.

Hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays; 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays; and 8 a.m. to noon Fridays. However, those hours may expand as the clinic evolves and has more members.

“The other thing about a shared clinic model is we have a shared employer clinic … in Allen County, so if somebody may work in Warsaw but lives in Allen County, they can use the employer clinic in Allen County. I think it’s important that we don’t have the general public coming in here for care because this is really for members,” Johnson explained. “And the other is, a lot of employers, this is an enormous benefit for their co-workers.”

With the shared employer clinics open in Allen and Kosciusko counties, Johnson was asked if there eventually will be similar clinics in every county where there’s a Parkview facility.

“A lot of it will depend on the market and what the reception (is). I believe the reception is going to be exceptional. If I was a local businessman, businesswoman I would be signing up for it because I know what it does for my co-workers, but I also know what it does for the total cost of care, providing healthcare,” he said, adding that they would not be limited to just where there are Parkview hospitals. “We want to go to where the hospitals need us.”

Johnson said Parkview Health is “privileged to be asked to provide services in Kosciusko County, in general. And I like to talk about the whole package for Parkview, so it just isn’t the employer clinic. I hope residents in Kosciusko County and the surrounding areas can see that we’re not just here to do one thing. You’re getting the Parkview experience, whether it’s the addition of hospital beds to the existing facility across the street here to the YMCA, etc. And really trying to answer the call from the residents in wanting Parkview in this community.”

During the ribbon-cutting ceremony, Johnson talked about the services the shared employer clinic, occupational health clinic and EAP offer.

“It’s really exciting that we can extend this to companies that are smaller. It gives them access. I can say that our employer clinics have a very, very high service excellence scores across the Parkview footprint, so, again … we’re bringing not just the hospital and hospital beds to Kosciusko, we’re bringing the Parkview experience, and this is just another addition of the Parkview experience we’re bringing to the community,” he said.

Kosciusko Chamber President and CEO and Main Street Warsaw Executive Director Rob Parker said, “At the Chamber, we believe that our mission is to be the voice of our members to stimulate healthy and diverse business growth in our community. And this is a great example of health and healthy solutions for our community.”

When Parkview steps in and makes people healthier in the community, Parker said that makes the community healthier which helps it to grow. “And we all know, without growth, we don’t want the opposite of that. We need to continue to strive to grow our community to make it the best darn community in our state,” he said.

Parker thanked Parkview for everything it’s doing for Kosciusko County and for investing in the clinic.

After the ceremony, Parkview Employer Solutions Vice President Melissa McKown provided a tour of the facility. One way from the help desk takes you to the employer clinic, and the other direction goes to occupational health. There are exam rooms, a work station for point-of-care testing, lab space, a waiting room, an occupational health exam room, an audio booth for hearing tests, office space, a procedure room and space for future growth.

“The fact that we could have everything employer related in one campus, it’s the first time we’ve been able to do that anywhere in the region. So this is kind of going to be our flagship of what we want to do in the future,” she said, noting that they’re going to have a “network” of clinics to make it convenient for all the members.

For more information about the new clinic or the services offered in Kosciusko County, contact Parkview Employer Solutions at (260) 373-9017 or via email at [email protected].