Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Employee Health Services topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
County renews on-site MedNow clinic contract; staff says clinic reduces expensive care visits
Summary
Columbia County approved a one-year renewal with MedNow Urgent Care for the employee on-site medical clinic. Staff said the clinic sees frequent use and likely reduces emergency-room visits and lost work hours, though precise savings were not calculated in the meeting.
Columbia County approved a one-year renewal of its contract with MedNow Urgent Care on May 13 to continue operating the on-site employee clinic.
Staff explained the clinic has been "very successful" and recommended exercising the right to renew for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2025. During discussion, commissioners asked how the county measures the clinic's value relative to health insurance or emergency-room use. County staff said the number of visits is tracked and that the clinic likely reduces more expensive emergency-room and general-practice visits: "it's saving us thousands of dollars, maybe even hundreds of thousands of dollars," a staff speaker said, while acknowledging that making precise extrapolations would require additional assumptions and analysis.
Why it matters: On-site clinics can reduce employee lost hours and health-care costs for employers. The county will continue the program for another fiscal year while tracking utilization.
Details and next steps: Staff said the clinic is convenient for employees and reduces lost work time; they agreed to provide more detailed analyses if commissioners want a formal cost-benefit calculation. The renewal was approved on consent.
