OnSiteClinics.Org

Business Coalitions Get in the Act

More and more business coalitions are getting onto the on-site and near site space.  A couple of notable examples come to mind immediately.  One is in the upper Wisconsin area and the other is in Indianapolis.  OurHealth is the regional vendor that is coordinating care among several employer who are sharing clinic services in Indiana.  As reported in the Sate Business Journal, there are now three employers sharing services at one site and others may soon follow.  In Northern Wisconsin, a group of sixteen employers (NCHA – North Central Healthcare Alliance, Inc.) is working through an RFP process that is being proctored by GHE, Inc. (Global Health Engines) under the direct oversight of their President, Tim Bowers.

A number of other examples come to mind of this type of coordination.  One that is the forerunner of them all is the Milwaukee operation that is coordinated by QuadGraphics where clinic services are shared by some of the bigger firms, including Miller and Briggs& Stratton and Northwestern.  Models may be emerging but they are all based on the same common sens approaches that the pioneers used when they formed wagon trains and when farmers got together to share large pieces of farm equipment in the grange model.  If one firm has capacity, can they share it?  If someone has a good idea, can we learnt from them?  If there is an opportunity to gain critical mass of some kind that could produce cost savings, why don’t we do it?

The answer is that sometimes the group needs a catalyst.  In Milwaukee, it was QuadMed and in Northern Wisconsin, Tim Bowers.  Indianapolis has OURHEALTH.  Look for more of these success stories in the future.