Nurse practitioner program inspires agency pilot project
Hello, Nurse!Tim Flynn, the nurse practitioner at the state Capitol, sees about 20 Capitol employees and legislators a day for complaints such as strep throat, bronchitis and allergies. The visits help patients avoid more costly trips to a doctor or emergency room.
"I figure a conservative estimate of what I save the state is about $100,000 a year, maybe a little more," Flynn says.
The Capitol program's ability to hold down health care costs inspired the 2005 Texas Legislature to pass House Bill 952, which authorizes a pilot nurse practitioner program at the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ).
Saves you money
Flynn says he doesn't treat chronic illnesses such as diabetes, high cholesterol or high blood pressure."As a nurse practitioner, I can do about 75 percent of what a doctor can do in an office setting," he said. "But chronic illnesses are best treated by a primary care physician because they can do the lab work."
TCEQ fit the bill for a pilot program, said Richard Hamner, a spokesman for State Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos.
"If you think about their location, it makes sense," Hamner said. "They have several different buildings, and they are quite a bit distant from most medical facilities."
TCEQ has about 2,000 employees at its Austin headquarters and another 1,000 employees in field offices, said Jennifer Allis, a spokeswoman for TCEQ. Flynn said he serves about 2,500 to 3,000 people, including the State Senate and House of Representatives, the Secretary of State, the Legislative Budget Board and the Department of Public Safety troopers who patrol the Capitol.
Allis said the Texas Employee Retirement System (ERS) will set up the program, though TCEQ has looked into costs and facilities.
"Before this even became a bill and was filed, we'd done a little research in February about what it would take to do this, and what kind of salary and what kinds of equipment we would need," she said.
The agencies are still working out the details, said Leah Erard, with government relations for ERS.
"It's on a long list of bills we're working to implement," she said. "One of the things we will research is if there is a vendor out there that we could contract with who could come in and provide the service."
A business success
Similar programs have been successful in the private sector, said Joan Ross, a nurse practitioner with SAS Institute Inc.SAS employs several nurse practitioners at its main campus in Cary, N.C. Ross is the only nurse practitioner at the computer software company's Austin office.
"[The nurse practitioner program] saves the company a lot of money for insurance, as well as time spent away from the office to see the doctor," Ross said. "In Cary, they saved $1.5 million in 2004. They delivered $5.5 million in services to employees, which was $1.5 million more than it cost to run the clinic."
She said the biggest savings, an additional $2 million, came from the amount of time employees were able to stay at work instead of going to a doctor's office.
"The goal isn't to try to keep people from their primary care physicians," she said. "We're not here to replace a primary care physician. We are complementary to them. Our goal is to save people time and keep them on the job."
Greg Mt.Joy
