The analysis of preferred provider organization claims data from January 2005 through November 2007 was extracted from Black & Decker Corp.’s data warehouse, which is administered by Mercer HealthOnline, a product offered by Mercer.

     "Regardless of the number of visits, for each visit that someone goes to a convenient care retail clinic versus a physician’s office, it is approximately 40 percent less expensive for the plan than if they went to a doctor’s office," says Raymond Brusca, Black & Decker’s vice president of benefits. The company is based in Towson, Maryland.
The savings are also net of the additional financial incentive provided to plan members by Black & Decker, which is $10 off their usual $25 co-payment for a primary care office visit, he says.

     In its first year, the study also looked at whether employees followed up their visit to a MinuteClinic with trips to their primary care doctors for the same conditions. Other retail clinics were studied in subsequent years. The research found that primary care visits occurred usually when follow-up care was required.

     What Black & Decker and its consultant were unable to measure, however, was the reduction in time away from the job for employees who used the clinics during the workday and how many emergency room visits were avoided.

     Because the Mercer study was conducted before Black & Decker’s introduction of a high-deductible consumer-driven health plan this year, the company and its consultant now are tracking retail clinic usage by users of that plan to see if it’s any greater than employees enrolled in PPO plans.

     "Our initial analysis shows it’s going like gangbusters," Brusca says.

     Although there is no reduced co-payment for consumer-driven plan members, Black & Decker encourages them to use retail clinics by reminding them of the lower cost compared with hospital emergency rooms, doctors’ offices and urgent care centers.

     "The way that we’ve pitched this is, it still makes sense because, whether you’re paying out of pocket or you’re going to use your HSA dollars, why would you want to spend $75 for an office visit when they can spend $49 at a MinuteClinic?" Brusca says.

     "It’s no different than deciding to use a generic drug, over-the-counter allergy treatment or a prescription," he says. "So they still save."

     Black & Decker plans to use the retail clinics during its fall open enrollment to boost consumer-driven plan enrollment for 2009. Currently, only 4 percent, or 300 employees, are enrolled in the company’s high-deductible HSA-linked plan.

     Black & Decker employs approximately 7,500 workers in 49 states.

     "We will use the retail clinics as one example, along with buying generics and over-the-counter drugs, as a way employees can find the most cost-effective solution for their medical needs," Brusca says. "So we really view the retail clinics as good for everybody."

     Regardless of whether retail clinics involve a traditional plan or a consumer-directed plan, the company is giving employees an incentive to go there, he says.

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