Take as needed

The doctor – make that the physician assistant – is in, and in this case it’s at a warehouse where more than 500 people work.

Five days a week, employees at the Lowe’s distribution center can stop in the Careworks work-site clinic set up in conjunction with the Geisinger Health Plan.

Since Oct. 20, Susan Maille, a board-certified physician assistant, has been doing routine check-ups, dispensing over-the-counter medicines and writing prescriptions free of charge at the massive warehouse in the CenterPoint Commerce & Trade Park in Jenkins and Pittston townships.

Maille, who works with a registered nurse, said the walk-in traffic at the three-room clinic has been steady. “Yesterday I saw 10 people,” she said on Wednesday.

Employee Frank Kellogg stopped in for a mid-week visit and had his blood pressure checked.

Kellogg, of Lake Ariel, said the clinic was “very convenient” and that he planned to come back “within the future.”

The combination of primary care and convenience has been growing and accepted as an effective way to make health care affordable and accessible outside the emergency room and the traditional setting of a doctor’s office.

Companies have seen the benefits a work site clinic has for themselves and their employees, said Dean Lin, chief executive officer of Careworks.

“For a lot of employers it’s about being competitive in the marketplace,” Lin said.

Providing on-site primary care reduces lost productivity from employee time off for doctor visits, offers quality care and cuts costs, Lin explained.

Mooresville, N.C.-based Lowe’s has clinics in its network of 14 regional distribution centers nationwide. Elsewhere, the nation’s second-largest home improvement retailer works with Take Care Health Systems, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Walgreens drugstore chain.

Gabe Weissman, a Take Care Health Systems spokesman, said the concept of providing medical care on-site is nothing new. But the type of care being provided has changed from occupational medicine that treated workplace injuries to more comprehensive primary and acute care.

Take Care has more than 700 worksite and retail clinics. Approximately 380 are on employer campuses and range from a single nurse practitioner to those with fitness centers, pharmacies and even dental care such as at the Toyota plant in San Antonio, Texas.

“The on-site employer health model is a microcosm of what health care can ideally look like,” Weissman said.

On a smaller scale Geisinger, headquartered in Danville, operates five clinics inside Weis Markets. The Lowe’s is Geisinger’s first work site setup.

Geisinger has been searching for innovative ways to deliver health care, Lin said.

The clinics treat common medical problems such as sprains, sore throats and aches and allow people to bypass emergency rooms or urgent care centers, according to Geisinger.

But, Lin stressed, they are not there to replace the existing relationship someone has with a primary care physician.

The Lowe’s clinic is there to meet the needs of workers when they are on site.

Geisinger provides insurance coverage for the local Lowe’s workers and the company, knowing about the retail clinics, asked for the health care provider’s help, Lin said.

The clinic is open to all Lowe’s employees whether or not they have Geisinger insurance.

Bob Ihrie, senior vice president of employee rewards and services for Lowe’s, said the clinic performs a two-fold service: “We are able to provide a convenient health care option while keeping medical care costs down.”

Besides the convenience and cost savings, a recent study showed an added benefit of having a work site clinic.

The Journal of Managed Care reported that people who use work site clinics and pharmacy programs had a 10 percent higher adherence to their medication — meaning they took their prescribed medication as directed — than people treated in a community setting.

Lin said health care costs increase as a result of people not adhering to the directions for their medications.

Based on what it learned at the retail sites and what it is learning at the Lowe’s work site, Geisinger could increase the number of clinics, Lin said.