County Planning Employee Health Clinics

Milwaukee County could build out three health clinics for more than 2,300 government employees by the end of the year.

In 2022, the county board approved approximately $24.1 million worth of projects throughout the county government as part of a “Fiscal Health Spending Package” intended to reduce long-term costs for the government or increase revenue, and potentially create operational efficiencies. The funding came out of the county’s allocation of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds. Among the larger projects was a $1.8 million plan to build out three on-site health clinics for county employees.

The clinics are intended to increase access to preventive medical care, improve employee retention, decrease health care claims and reduce time spent away from work for doctor’s appointments.

The clinics are expected to improve employees’ overall health outcomes, as they may be more likely to receive regular screenings and immunizations. They also should reduce the number of unnecessary visits to emergency departments and urgent care clinics. Both of these should contribute to decreased health insurance claims in the long run.

The county has begun looking for health care companies capable of staffing and operating on-site clinics at three locations: Milwaukee County Courthouse, the Vel R. Philips Juvenile Justice Center and the Wilson Senior Center. A document released for prospective vendors indicates the county hopes to have the clinics open by at least January 1, 2024. The county will be responsible for building out the clinic spaces.

The clinics will principally provide primary care for county employees. This will include care for both acute and chronic medical conditions, urgent medical situations and follow-up care after screenings and examinations. Clinics will also provide medication management for chronic health conditions, and potentially, dispense medication for patients. It’s also expected that the clinics will provide “laboratory specimen collection” and refer employees to affordable radiology clinics.

The more than 2,300 county employees eligible to receive health care at the on-site clinics will include Milwaukee County Transit System (MCTS) employees, thanks to the county board.

A few months after the board approved funding for the clinics in 2022, Sup. Peter Burgelis proposed building out a fourth clinic at an MCTS-owned facility for transit workers. His reasoning for the transit clinic was largely the same as the other three, but it also offered a solution for bus operators who have criticized an MCTS policy covering what they have to do when they get sick on the job.

If an operator feels so ill that they need to get off the bus, they need to get a doctor’s note before they can return to work. This has led operators to go to urgent care clinics or emergency rooms seeking a doctor’s note because they had to get off the bus for something as simple as digestive trouble, Donnell Shorter, Amalgamated Transit Union Local 998, previously told Urban Milwaukee.

The county employee-only clinics should make it easier for operators to get those notes and return to work. But they won’t be getting them from a transit-specific clinic. Burgelis’ proposal for a fourth clinic saw pushback from transit system officials concerned about the cost of keeping up a health clinic on a transit property. Then-interim managing director Denise Wandke said MCTS would support opening up the already planned employee clinics to MCTS workers.

Burgelis amended his proposal to reflect Wandke’s suggestion. The resolution, passed by the board in November, added $260,000 to the clinic project to support the inclusion of the transit workers.