The Chatham County Commission is moving forward with establishing an employee health care clinic to improve health and stem rising health care costs.
The commission voted 7-0 Friday to develop a contract, that includes performance guarantees, with Vermont-based Marathon Health to operate the proposed clinic.
The vote, however, is not a final decision on establishing a clinic, which could come to a vote in a month. Commissioners Patrick Farrell and Dean Kicklighter were absent.
A consultant reviewed submitted proposals estimated the county could save $5 million over five years under a plan by Marathon, the county staff’s recommended health care company. Operating costs, including set up expenses, are projected to total $2.9 million over five years.
Joe Marlowe, senior vice president of Aon Hewitt, said an on-site clinic can help defray the costs associated with a considerable number of county employees with health risks.
“The secret here is to get individuals with these health risks into a cost management situation where they’re able to control their condition better, perhaps reverse it in some cases and avoid very costly complications,” said Marlowe.
He said a 2011-12 biometric screening of 1,162 employees found that 79 percent were obese or overweight, 44 percent were pre-diabetic or diabetic, 27 percent had high cholesterol, 67 percent suffered from pre-hypertension or hypertension, 59 percent were sedentary and 44 percent had heart disease risk.
Linda Cramer, assistant county manager, said the cost of insurance claims for active employees has increased over the years, totaling between $18 and $19 million in fiscal year 2013, compared to $13 million in 2008.
On-site clinics have grown increasingly popular in the public sector because they’re seen as providing beneficial preventive care that can reduce costly claims down the road. Additionally, workers typically spend less time in waiting rooms in such facilities that are open exclusively to employees, retirees and their dependents.
“We can’t afford not to do this,” said Commissioner Helen Stone, an advocate of the proposed clinic.
Commissioners voiced support for the idea of a clinic, but expressed concerns about how many employees would use it. Generally, the more employees who participate, the more an employer saves.
Assistant county manager Michael Kaigler noted that a survey of a few hundred employees last December found that 45 percent would use an on-site clinic. County attorney Jon Hart said establishing a point system is among many ways to persuade employees.
Meanwhile, the commission voted 6-1 for a 1.25 mill increase to the Savannah-Chatham County public school board’s millage rate, which totals 15.881. Stone dissented while Farrell and Kicklighter were absent.
In other business, commissioners:
• Approved transferring $300,000 from the Carver Heights Community Center addition project to the county administrative building project at 123 Abercorn St.
• Approved a contract to pay $130,256 in compensation to Bamboo Farm and Coastal Gardens personnel and $136,148 in compensation to Chatham County Cooperative Extension personnel.
• Heard a design presentation regarding the $18.7 million Emergency Operations Center project at Hunter Army Airfield, which the county is looking to fund through SPLOST.
• Approved an agreement to set the structure for court reporting services and court control of the operational process of the court reporter.
• Approved an intergovernmental agreement to allow storage of Garden City records at the county’s records center.
• Approved a resolution in opposition to the 2010 U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, despite opposition from some commissioners.