Alomere Health and Knute Nelson have formed a new employer-based clinic in Alexandria.
The new clinic – named health+ – opened in January 2020 at Station 4 of the Alexandria Clinic. The health+ clinic, powered by Alomere Health and Knute Nelson, offers general medical services at reduced costs to the employees and families of Alomere Health and Knute Nelson who are enrolled in their employers’ health insurance plan.
“We saw a great opportunity to collaborate with a strong community partner and utilize the strengths of our organizations, including Alomere Health’s high quality team of local providers, to offer a very unique benefit to our employees,” says Mark Anderson, CEO of Knute Nelson. “We are proud to be leaders in our community to provide a solution like this for our employees.”
The onsite clinic is different from the traditional healthcare plan model that was previously in place, said Alomere and Knute Nelson leaders. According to the National Association of Worksite Health Centers, a workplace onsite clinic is a setting where an employer offers one or more medical and wellness services, delivered by licensed providers, to all or a portion of eligible employees and their family members.
Alomere and Knute Nelson list several benefits to offering an onsite clinic as part of their employee benefits package including:
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Convenient access to high-quality care.
Prioritization of preventative care and well-being.
Reduction in ER visits for employees.
Recruitment and retention of employees.
Increased employee productivity.
Reduction in employer healthcare costs.
People tend to use health care services once there’s already a problem. The onsite clinic approach attempts to be more proactive and prevent illness by incorporating wellness programs and preventative care.
The health+ clinic will incorporate additional incentives to encourage employee wellness and prevention, along with care for the management of chronic illnesses, according to Alomere.
“The addition of the health+ clinic highlights one innovative new way in which we are demonstrating our commitment to our mission to strengthen and nurture the health and wellbeing of our family, friends, and neighbors,” said Carl Vaagenes, CEO at Alomere Health. He added, “We are excited to be working with Knute Nelson to offer additional access to the excellent care that is available through the Alexandria Clinic for our employees and families. The reality is that this is new clinic is simply an extension of the clinic services that have been provided for decades by the primary care physicians, and is not meant to replace the value of the patient and physician relationship.”
According to Anderson and Vaagenes, a collaborative partnership such as this opens a new door for opportunities and the potential to achieve greater outcomes for employees, the organizations and the community through a focus on preventive care, healthy lifestyle choices, and treating common medical conditions.
Between Alomere Health and Knute Nelson, roughly 850 employees qualify for the new health+ clinic and when factoring in their covered family members, that number jumps to 2,600. With the convenience and reduced out-of-pocket cost of the new health+ clinic option for Alomere Health and Knute Nelson employees, both organizations are hopeful that their employees are less likely to put off seeing a doctor and can avoid a minor issue becoming a more serious one.
The main benefits that this clinic hopes to provide includes convenient access, reduced cost, and increased employee engagement to promote overall improved health for the employees and the employer, according to Alomere and Knute Nelson.
Employees and their families are still able to use their current health provider if they choose and would be billed through insurance the same as they have been previously.
The health+ clinic has already been a success seeing between 12-16 appointments per day with those numbers expected to grow.
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