Healthcare Design - October 2014 - 30

Well-laid plans
Once the decision has been made to build an
on-site clinic, planning begins with an analysis of
a company's medical claims history, a utilization
30

HCDmagazine.com 10.14

Above and inset: A waiting room,
pharmacy, and reception desk
greet visitors at CHS/Take Care's
Healthy Living Health Center,
located at Walgreens' corporate
headquarters in Deerfield, Ill.
Previously run by Walgreens,
Waterstreet recently acquired
Take Care, along with CHS, and
merged the two into one brand.
Below: Stocked with basic
medical equipment, the clinic
offers on-site primary medical
care to the company's corporate
employees.

CHS/TAKE CARE

access to care.
"Studies have found that a typical day doesn't include time to see a physician, and therefore, a majority
of employees choose to postpone preventive care,"
says Lisa Marie Gorman, director of the St. Joseph
Health Wellness Center Park Place (Irvine, Calif.),
which delivers on-site healthcare to 8,000 St. Joseph
employees. "We've found that creating a superconvenient yet private space can make the difference,
saving two or more hours of work time, and reducing
absenteeism while increasing productivity," she says.
Scott Shreeve, CEO of Crossover Health (Aliso
Viejo, Calif.), which specializes in planning and designing worksite primary care clinics, says he's seen
popularity grow as corporations are starting to view
these amenities as being on par with cafeterias and
fitness centers.
However, the catchment area is much larger than
simply corporate America, notes A. Michael LaPenna,
a healthcare business consultant in Grand Rapids,
Mich., and author of Workplace Clinics and Employer
Managed Healthcare: A Catalyst for Cost Savings
and Improved Productivity. "The self-funded employer
community includes municipalities, school districts,
colleges, and a variety of other entities," he says.

estimate based on an assessment of local
access to medical care, the company's benefit
programming, and the nature of the services to be
provided on-site, LaPenna says.
Crossover, for example, has developed an
algorithm to help clients determine how much
space to allocate. "In partnership with our clients,
we determine the scope of desired service,
eligible population, growth rate of the population,
and days/hours of operation, to project utilization by service type and, ultimately, [determine]
the required facility size," says David Lees, vice
president of client services for Crossover. The
algorithm also provides a room count, equipment
list, staffing model, and budget for the project,
which is built to five-year utilization projections.
Ultimately, these spaces will range in size from
500 square feet to 5,000 square feet, with a separate entrance and exit to ensure privacy and provide access to employee dependents, if applicable.
Offering more specific guidelines, Ford Brewer,
chief medical officer for worksite healthcare provider CHS/Take Care (Reston, Va.), explains that
clinics with one caregiver generally require 1,200
to 1,500 square feet, with two caregivers requiring
1,700 to 2,000 square feet and three
caregivers requiring 3,000 to 3,600
square feet. Brewer adds that the
exam/treatment room should be no
smaller than 130 square feet.
With an eye on growth over time,
CHS/Take Care also incorporates
multipurpose and modular spaces;
accommodations for cyclical services, such as flu shots; and flexible
workspaces that aren't specific to a
type of service provided.
Depending on an organization's

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Healthcare Design - October 2014

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