Financing for a medical clinic at 800 Ann Ave. for Unified Government employees is on the UG Commission agenda for Thursday, Sept. 24.
The estimated total costs of the project are $1,830,000, according to agenda documents. Cerner will be the provider for the health clinic, according to UG officials.
The UG Commission meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Sept. 24 in the Commission Chambers, lobby level, City Hall, 701 N. 7th St., Kansas City, Kan. Before the 7 p.m. meeting, the UG Commission will meet at 5 p.m. in the 9th floor conference room for a closed session on labor and litigation. After that will be a special session in the fifth floor conference room on the health benefits committee update and the administrator’s second quarter report.
The medical clinic project was described at a UG Economic Development and Finance Standing Committee meeting on Sept. 14.
If approved by the Commission, bonds will be issued to pay the costs of the project, according to UG officials. The financing for the project will be through the Public Building Commission, if it approves the project. The Public Building Commission meeting will be held immediately following the commission meeting on Thursday, in the ninth floor conference room.
UG officials explained that $1.4 million would be spent on acquisition and site improvements, and the rest for equipment and furnishings.
The UG estimated the city share at 60 percent and the county at 40 percent, based on the number of employees.
Joe Connor, deputy UG administrator, said the purpose of the clinic was not only to get health care for the employees, but also to include a wellness component.
“The ultimate goal is to lower our costs of health care,” he said. The UG is self-insured.
The UG expects in the second to fifth year to see some returns on its investment.
“We expect to have this clinic open sometime next year,” Connor said.
The first year, the clinic will be for employees only, and the second year, dependents of employees also may use it, he said. It will include a pharmacy within the facility, he added.
For a 10-year financing, the UG would pay about $215,000 a year to the Public Building Commission for the building, UG officials said.
Connor said there is a flat fee to Cerner for the operations of the clinic. The funds would come from the employee health fund, he added. There will be some co-pay for those who are on the high deductible plan, but in general, the costs will be minimal, he said.
Connor said this will be a long-term strategy for the UG. He said it may be considered for the Board of Public Utilities in the future.
Currently the UG is at the $27 or $28 million level for claims it pays every year for health care, Connor said. The clinic will be cheaper for the UG, and it will include a more holistic look at employees and dependents, so they don’t have to access health care as much in the future, he said.
“That’s where you see the savings,” he said.
Part of the cost that is figured in the cost estimates is return to work time, Connor said. Employees can be seen quickly at the clinic and can return to work more quickly, he believes. Less sick days taken, more time at work are considered as positive reasons for the clinic.
“There has to be a way to encourage an employee to go to a clinic,” Commissioner Hal Walker said. “The only way to do that is to make the deductibles for not going to the clinic higher.”
However, Connor said the UG is not trying to replace the family doctor or primary care physician.
“Their goal is to get our employees healthy and back to work, and hopefully on a plan to be healthier throughout their lives,” Connor said.
He said this concept has been used in other cities throughout the country for some time, and they have shown good return on investment.
The building at 800 Ann Ave. has more capacity than the clinic needs, and Connor said there wasn’t yet a plan to use some space for an additional UG department.
In other action, a presentation is scheduled at the UG meeting about the UG Land Bank, which is launching a new online platform.
On this new platform, the public will have easy access to UG-owned properties throughout Wyandotte County, according to the announcement.
The UG is a partner with OpportunitySpace, an online real estate market place to assist government agencies with developing vacant and abandoned property.
There are more than 2,100 Land Bank properties.
For more information on the platform, visit www.wycokck.org.
Also on the agenda for the meeting:
– A change to the UG cash management policy that will require specific training for the cash manager.
– A form that will be used to evaluate the county administrator.
– UG approval of the sale of Advanced Auto Parts at Wyandotte Plaza from Legacy Wyandotte (with Rob Lowe) to Hammar of Frankfort, Ky.
– UG approval of the sale of the Mainstreet Skilled Nursing Facility at 8900 Parallel Parkway from MS-Kansas City LLC to Health Care REIT Inc.