Walk-in clinic to help shave health care costs
BY PATRICIA A. MILLER Staff Writer

BRICK TOWNSHIP - The Township Council was slated to award a $33,600 contract to Marathon Health Services Tuesday to begin setting up an employee wellness center at Civic Plaza on Chambers Bridge Road.

The health care walk-in clinic will be staffed by nurse practitioners, who can treat minor illnesses and write prescriptions.

"Eighty percent of what a doctor does, a nurse practitioner does," Mayor Stephen Acropolis said. "It's kind of like the school nurse."

The goal is to cut health care costs by providing treatment for minor illnesses like sore throats and earaches, and by screening for other potential health problems, the mayor said.

Marathon Health is a Colchester, Vt.- based corporate health services company designed to improve the quality of health care at reduced costs, according to the company's Web site.

"The concept is a very, very good one," the mayor said. "We're doing something that corporations have been doing for years."

Brick will be the first municipality in the state to use such a program, Acropolis said.

"They [Marathon] want to have a big municipality get involved with this," he said.

The township's health insurance costs with Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey jumped $1,342,200 this year, which equates to 2 cents on the municipal tax rate, Township Administrator Scott M. Pezarras said.

The clinic will offer services to deal with minor illnesses, health screenings and disease management, Acropolis said.

The Horizon BCBSNJ health plan pays about $120 for a single office visit to a general practitioner, compared to about $40 for a visit to a nurse practitioner, the mayor said.

"The employee doesn't pay it, the health plan does," Acropolis said. "The premiums are based on what the health plan pays out."

The center is expected to open in the beginning of January, he said.

Employees still have the option of going to their regular physicians, Acropolis said.

"This is an added benefit that I hope they will take advantage of," Acropolis said.The program will also provide preventive health maintenance, which will target employees at risk for certain diseases and attempt to delay or eliminate their development.

"Part of this wellness program is going to be a health screening for employees that will ultimately allow us to save money," Acropolis said. "I believe the employees understand where we are in the budget process."

Marathon has agreed to share half of the risk costs, which was a major selling point for Pezarras.

"This is something totally out of the box," he said. "Usually I don't like to lead first."

Acropolis said he hopes the school district and the Municipal Utilities Authority will also participate and use the clinics.

The on-site clinic and risk-assessment approach help capture both "hard- and soft-dollar" savings, Marathon's Web site states.

The hard-dollar savings come from reduced on-site costs and costs for emergency room visits and specialists. The soft-dollar savings include increased employee productivity, morale, retention and less time away from work for primary care, according to the Web site.