One day at work, Cathy Boyes wasn’t feeling well. Thinking she had symptoms of the flu, the 54-year-old executive assistant went down four floors to the wellness center at her office. Less than 30 minutes later, Boyes was diagnosed with a bad cold and left the wellness center with some prescription medicine to help with her congestion.
Boyes works at Aetna’s headquarters in Hartford, Connecticut, where the health insurance company has a pretty comprehensive health services center for its employees. There, workers can stop by for an exam with the company’s on-site physician without an appointment. There’s also a pharmacy that’s open during work hours where workers can fill prescriptions, both from the office’s health center as well as those from outside doctors.
Workers usually stop by Aetna’s wellness center, which opened in November 2008, with fairly simple injuries or ailments — a sore throat or sprained ankle, for example. Sometimes, workers are sent to the emergency room if the on-site doctor thinks employees need more serious attention.
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Often, the doctors and nurses at companies’ on-site clinics are staffed by third-party vendors. Ethan Slavin, a spokesperson for Aetna, said this creates a separation between workers and their employers when it comes to sensitive information. Nowikas said Hearst’s clinic operates under HIPAA guidelines like any other doctor’s office in the country and that patient information isn’t kept on the company’s own server.
On-site clinics are one answer to growing demand nationwide for more convenient medical care. Across the country, major retail chains like Walmart, CVS and Walgreens are opening walk-in clinics where customers can go for to treat the flu or take a strep test.
