Feature Story


Nurses often manage these clinics, blending their knowledge of government safety requirements, finance and patient care to provide centers of care that truly are outside the box.


Trending on-site | Traditionally, occupational health clinics focused on drug tests, ergonomics and on-the-job injuries. As manufacturing and heavy industry began leaving the U.S., many companies closed their clinics and began using off-site occupational health offices. That trend now is in reverse, mostly in response to health insurance costs. Company clinics enable employers to exercise greater control over costs such


as emergency room and specialist visits. Other advantages include reduced absenteeism, increased productivity and the capability to help employees manage chronic conditions.


“Interest in on-site clinics has really grown a lot in these past 10 years, specifically because health insurance premiums have gone up,” said Barbara Kelly, RN, FNP, a University of Indianapolis faculty member and director of Koval Nursing Center.


She said insurance benefits managers often can help reduce premiums for companies that have on-site clinics and nurse practitioners.


As the scope of services at on-site 10 Indiana Nursing Quarterly • indystar.com/nursing • Summer 2011


clinics broadens, savings are realized in other ways as well. Some clinics, for example, promote wellness and offer programs for smoking cessation or weight loss. Others track jobs with the greatest incidence of injury to lessen or eliminate problems.


“Usually in this environment there’s cumulative trauma or repetitive motion injuries,” said Lynette Alexander, RN, NP, CFNP, a Community Health System employee and the occupational health clinical manager at Subaru of Indiana. “If you look at statistics, that’s what you think you’d be seeing, but because of all the prevention, we just don’t have that anymore.”


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