Jackson may provide a health and wellness clinic for the city’s more than 2,100 employees. A proposal is for Biloxi-based Medical Analysis to open a clinic in Jackson for city employees and their dependents.
Jackson may provide a free health and wellness clinic for the city’s more than 2,100 employees.
A proposal is for Biloxi-based Medical Analysis to open a clinic in Jackson for city employees and their dependents.
The company’s vision is to make health care affordable to the people in the community while helping corporations decrease the spiraling cost of health care claims.
Medical Analysis launched its first such clinic in the Biloxi Public School District in 2006.
It was reported that employees of the Biloxi school district saved more than $1.3 million in medical expenses in the first year or two of the clinic.
Similar programs have been launched by the Harrison County, Pass Christian, Long Beach and Gulfport school districts, as well as the cities of Biloxi, Long Beach and Gulfport, according to Medical Analysis. Jackson would be the largest city with a Medical Analysis clinic for city employees.
The company provides services to corporate clients, including casinos in Mississippi and other areas.
A clinic is normally operated by a nurse practitioner and dispenses low-cost prescription medication, eliminating visits and fees for visits to a doctor’s office or drugstore.
Jackson Mayor Tony Yarber and other city officials said the goal for the city is to save money on employee health costs.
The company’s proposal is for two years at a cost of $38,000 a month to provide medical service for city employees.
Gulfport Human Resources Manager Cheryl Millender said the health and wellness clinic is saving the city and employees roughly $50,000 a month in health care costs.
“It’s well utilized here,” Millender said. “We receive a monthly report, and it shows for the last month it was used 400 times.”
Millender said a lot of employees don’t have regular doctors and the clinic helps identify potential health problems.
Medical Analysis was the only company to submit a proposal for providing medical service to Jackson employees.
City Council President Melvin Priester Jr. said he has a concern about only one proposal being received by the city. He wondered whether the city did enough to make sure others knew about the solicitation of bids.
“What did we do to spread the word that we were interested in doing this type project?” Priester asked during a budget committee meeting. “I’m just disturbed we got one bid (considering) the number of health care providers in the city.”
Priester said longtime community health center Jackson-Hinds Comprehensive Health Center and the University of Mississippi Medical Center offered similar type service in the community. Priester said he had been in contact with some officials from both who indicated they were aware of the city seeking proposals.
Yarber said the city advertised in the weekly paper that was the paper of record at the time for city advertisements. Also, he said the information was online at the city’s website.
The council budget committee voted the proposal out of committee. It now goes to the full council for consideration. Yarber said the likely location of the clinic will be Metrocenter mall because it offers good public access.
However, council members say they haven’t been provided with a cost estimate for the city locating such a clinic in Metrocenter or the Landmark Center, which have been the two primary locations under consideration.
Councilwoman Margaret Barrett-Simon said there is no way to know whether savings will be realized by the city until the city knows the full cost of locating and starting a clinic. The city would pay Medical Analysis more than $900,000 over the two-year period of the proposed contract. That figure doesn’t include the amount the city would pay to locate a clinic in a building.
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