St. Francis Medical Center
Monroe, La.

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St. Francis Medical Center, part of the Baton Rouge-based Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System, created The Franciscan Clinic in Monroe, La., to provide greater access to care and to provide employees with an added value to their health benefits. The FMOL Health System provides a tiered system for insurance premiums. Employees making less than $13 per hour pay a lower premium than employees making $13 per hour or more. Yet, there were still many who cannot afford co-pays and deductibles. Prior to opening The Franciscan Clinic, many of these employees were foregoing care because of the cost.

The Franciscan Clinic was designed with the idea that all employees who carry the hospital's insurance should have equal access to appropriate care. Franciscan Clinic patients pay only a $5 co-pay, but there regularly are patients who, despite the low cost, bring coins to pay their bill. From the patients seen, the system learned that there are many who struggle to find the extra money to pay the $5 co-pay — if they had to pay a higher co-pay or deductible, they would not seek care unless it were an emergency. This can lead to unnecessary emergency department visits, which causes longer wait times and higher out-of-pocket expenses.

The Franciscan Clinic averages 25 to 35 new patients monthly and has achieved a 40 percent penetration of the 1,542 employees who carry the hospital's insurance. For calendar year 2011, trending forecasts at least 5,000 visits among employees who carry the hospital's insurance. Patients are offered 30-minute time slots for established patients and 60-minute slots for new patients. Practitioners spend time with each patient and talk about more than the issue for which the patient made the appointment. This allows more time for education, introduction to wellness topics and focus on the patient as a person and not a number or a chart. Patients regularly report that they were pleased with the ease of making appointments and with the high quality of customer service and attention to their needs. Satisfaction scores are consistently at 99-100% percent satisfied, and other hospitals in the FMOL Health System are using this as a best practice on which to build their own clinic.

The Franciscan Clinic is thought of throughout St. Francis Medical Center as the provider of choice for all levels of staff. The Franciscan Clinic is a common ground that helps bond the entire employee group and helps eliminate social disparities within the organization. These efforts are aimed at reducing disparities and creating and maintaining a healthier workforce who is better able to care for patients. When access barriers are reduced, employees have the chance to tap into a health care system for which they have long worked but sometimes been unable to use to its full potential. By doing this, the system strengthens the health and long-term wellness of its employees, positions itself as an employer of choice, serves as a model for other companies and sets a healthy example patients.