Don Chalmers tries to nurse his health care premiums downward - New Mexico Business Weekly:

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Every time the premiums increased, Chalmers' 200 employees had to pay more out of thei r checks for theirhealth care. But rather than merely Chalmers decided to see if he could do somethinb to improve the health of his employees andtheit families, and try to slow down the increasesz in health care costs. And so, in early when he was negotiating his healtgh insurance coveragewith , Chalmers made a uniquew request: He wanted an on-site nurse who coulxd prescribe drugs and treat, not only the auto dealership'ss employees, but their families as well.
The nurse, who came on boared in August 2003, in a move that was an experimen for both Chalmersand Presbyterian, is now seeing about 90 patientd a month. "I suggestefd that that is what I wante d to have happen and that I would want the insuranc e company to participate in the cost of says Chalmers, who also operates a dealership in Albuquerque. "Theyu do, and I participate as well, and it has been very interestingy and we arelearning something. Whethetr it will truly control costs, I don'rt know. I think, in the long term, it can. In the shorft term, it costs us a little extra money and it take a little of the pressurw off the emergency rooms and other areaes ofhealth care.
" Joni director of Employee Based Health Plane for Presbyterian, says the deal with Chalmers "isz a research and development "It is very much a collaborativ e effort in that both the health plan and Don Chalmerse have been working to provide the resources," Pompeo "It is part of a larger initiatived of improving the health of Don's employeesw and their family members. "Wde don't have any other employer groulp in the city that isdoing this," Pompeo says, addinfg that while other U.S. employers provide on-sits nurses, very few allow those nurses tosee employees' family members.
Having an on-sitr nurse and clinic, initially, is costinv him an additional $40,000 a year in Chalmers says, and it's not yet cleadr whether the program will reduce health care costs in thelong run. Pompeo says it is still too early to trackany long-term The nurse, Rhonda Bentz, is an employee of the Presbyterian Medical Group and spends four hours a day at Chalmers' Westsidwe location where the dealership has helped build and suppl the small clinic. A nurse practitioner, Bentaz can prescribe drugs and operate the clinic onher own. She however, meet with a doctor once a month to reviewthe clinic'as cases. "We just opened a brand-neq clinic.
It is very accessible to the Presbyterian put most of the equipment in it and Don takesx care of the Bentz says. "It's small, but we can do anything in our littlde clinic that they can do in a family Don wanted it for the familiexs ofhis employees, so we set it up like a littlew family practice clinic." Employees and their familiea don't pay anything to see and so they can go to her with questionas about their health and not have to worryu about making a co-payment, Bentz says. "They see me for minoe problems anduncomplicated illnesses.
If I find something complicatedx and they decide that they need to see a a lot of times I can save them the initia l work up front and save them a Bentz says. In addition, Bentz helps run Chalmers' anti-obesity and anti-smoking Bentz says that in 2004, employees' prescription drug costsw have "gone way down. "Many people were seeinb drugs on TV and wanting touse them, and so we did a lot of educatiojn and so people are not getting more generi drugs," Bentz says. "We're also seeingh that urgent care and emergency room useis down. We see everyonr who is coming down with a minor illnes s orany injury. We have found several tumorsx in people.
"We had one man, he wasn't feeling but he had had a cough for a and he saidit wasn't going He wasn't sick or short of I looked at him and saw that he had a huge tumotr growing down his airway." Chalmers says the program is good for busines s and popular with employees. "I get a benefit in that the employeedare happier," he says. "And if they are happier, they make my customerxs happier." "I think if Rhonda ran for president of the companh she couldget elected.
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