INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — The Indian River County School Board voted 4-1 Tuesday night to move forward with negotiations to bring an employee health clinic to the School District. School Board member Matt McCain voted against the measure.
The School District will begin negotiating with CareHere, a Tennessee-based health care provider immediately and a final contract could be presented to the School Board for final approval by the next regular business meeting, which will be held in February.
Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources Bill Fritz presented the case for selecting CareHere, which is expected to provide on-site health care services at a cost of $23 per employee.
According to Fritz, participation in the clinic would be voluntary, not mandatory, for the approximately 2,000 employees the School District has.
Those who have supported the health clinic have said the service would save the School District money over time by helping to offset rising health care costs in the future. The School District is self-insured and pays Blue Cross Blue Shield (now Florida Blue) back on the employees’ bills.
Many municipalities, government agencies and school districts are now moving toward offering employees of such entities an option of going to on-site health and wellness centers where prescriptions can be purchased at a bulk rate, further saving money.
The estimated first-year cost for the health clinic is approximately $1.3 million; subsequent years would cost approximately $1.15 million for operations. The additional $160,000 for the first year is attributed to startup expenses, which include purchasing medical supplies and prescriptions and renovating a facility for the clinic.
School Board Chair Carol Johnson told the audience that the funds for establishing the health clinic would come solely from employee insurance premiums – not from the general fund.
Fritz said after the meeting the wellness clinic, if ultimately approved, would be located in two concretables – concrete “portable” structures typically seen on school properties to house classrooms – at the district’s Transportation Facility on 41st Street.
Fritz said he expects negotiations with CareHere to move quickly as the School District had previously negotiated with the firm. At that time, though, the School Board put the process on hold in search of more information.
“It is a big risk,” School Board member Claudia Jimenez said of going forward with an employee health clinic. She added that she felt it was a risk worth taking to save the District money, explaining that health care costs have outpaced revenues. “We have to do something.”
School Board member Dale Simchick told the audience she had to do a bit of catching up on the issue as much of the discussion and debate happened before her appointment to the board.
Citing other school districts’ reported benefits from health clinics, Simchick said they could see insurance premiums go down and absenteeism due to illness also decrease.
“We have to be competitive,” Simchick added, explaining that the district cannot be a training ground for employees who then leave for other districts.
McCain, who was the lone dissenting vote, did not speak to his reasons for voting against moving forward with CareHere.
