Upon further review, the city of Columbus may not be pulling out of Baptist Medical Group’s primary care clinic after all.
Last week, the city council voted to opt out of the clinic, citing a lack of usage. Tuesday, during its budget work session, the council unanimously rescinded that vote at the recommendations of Mayor Robert Smith and Human Resources Director Pat Mitchell.
The decision to pull out of the clinic was based partly on inadequate data, Mitchell said.
Last week, Mitchell told the council that only 35 employees or dependents were using the clinic each month, based on the invoices BMG provided to her office.
Tuesday, Mitchell said the low number was not an accurate count of employee usage.
“Some of the discrepancies in the report last week about the utilization of the clinic was based on the fact that the invoices we received did not indicate everyone who visited the clinic,” Mitchell said. “I could only report utilization based on the information I received. I am hopeful now that we can come to some type of solution because I believe (the clinic) is a benefit to the city.”
Janet Cranford, operations director for BMG who attended Tuesday’s work session, said BMG sent only the invoices to Mitchell that included billable charges not covered in the contract.
Cranford said data from the past 12 months showed the clinic averaged 71 visits per month from city employees and their covered dependents, with a high of 98 visits in January.
“Bear in mind, the invoices we have been sending, the ones that Pat has been getting every month, don’t show all the visits, only the ones who had extra billable charges,” Cranford said. “Our reporting mechanism can be whatever you need it to be. You tell us the information you want and we have a way to get that information to you.”
Revising the contract
Columbus, along with Lowndes County and Columbus Light and Water, entered separate agreements with BMG in February 2017 to offer the clinic for its employees and their dependents.
The clinic is staffed with nurses, a nurse practitioner and the equipment necessary to provide services such as preventative care, physicals and educational programs along with primary care and filled prescriptions, all at no cost to the insured employees. Its aim is to lower insurance costs for each entity, while also providing low-cost health care to the entity’s employees.
The combined cost for the city, county and CLW was $226,000 per year. Since the city had the most employees of the entities — with more than 500 — it’s paid the lion’s share of that cost, just more than $192,000.
Cranford said now that BMG has actual monthly data to evaluate, her group can find ways to reduce costs to the city through revising the contract, something she said BMG is doing with CLW and Lowndes County.
Smith asked that the council’s insurance committee meet with BMG officials to discuss revisions to the contract.
Ward 6 Councilman Bill Gavin noted Tuesday’s decision to rescind the termination of the clinic arrangement did not mean the city might yet decide to leave the clinic.
“Let’s see what they can come up with,” Gavin said. “I think the clinic is great. I’m well-pleased with it. But if employees don’t use it, it’s not good for us.”
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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