UCF Health, the College of Medicine physician practice, and Medical Risk Solutions will open the center at 704 Generation Point, Kissimmee, in a county services building that is being renovated into an outpatient healthcare facility. The center is the first worksite healthcare facility the medical school has opened.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are thrilled to bring on-site patient care to Osceola County\u2019s Sheriff\u2019s Office members and their families,\u201d said Dr. Deborah German, UCF vice president for medical affairs and dean. \u201cUCF is the med school that belongs to us all. Through this model of care, we will be able to provide state-of-the-art patient care to the people who protect our community and help manage healthcare spending.\u201d<\/p>\n
Osceola County Sheriff Bob Hansell approached the medical school about setting up the on-site clinic, noting that many deputies and staff must travel long distances \u2013 often outside the county — and take time off from work to visit a doctor. \u201cThrough this partnership we can give our members the highest quality medical care in a more efficient and convenient way and also cut our healthcare costs,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a win-win for our members, their families and the taxpayers of Osceola County.\u201d<\/p>\n
Medical Risk Solutions will manage the center through a model it has helped develop across Florida. The company\u2019s founders have collaborated with other medical\u00a0experts to operate workplace health centers in a variety of cities, counties and school districts. Its Central Florida centers are located in areas including Ocoee, Oviedo, Leesburg, Sanford, Apopka, Kissimmee, Lake Mary and DeLand. Medical Risk Solutions\u2019 facilities are designed to operate as patient-centered medical homes, where a team of healthcare providers coordinates all care with an individualized approach created for each patient. This onsite-care model also allows the centers to adapt their services to the needs of particular patients, taking into account ages, activity levels and high-risk employment, such as jobs that many law enforcement officers perform.<\/p>\n
The sheriff\u2019s 1,400 employees, eligible retirees and their family members who voluntarily choose to use the center\u2019s services will not have to pay any out-of-pocket costs for medical or lab services or prescription drugs provided within the center.<\/p>\n
Medical Risk Solutions passes through the actual costs of those services to the employer, plus an administrative fee for operating the program. Drugs are purchased at wholesale rates and those savings are passed onto the employer.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause there is no middleman adding profits to healthcare, our clients are able to provide higher-quality care to their family members at reduced costs,\u201d said Ray Tomlinson, president of Medical Risk Solutions. \u201cOverall, our costs for the health centers, including operations and administration, have been approximately 30 to 70 percent less than what employers were paying under the fee-for-service model.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tomlinson added that his team has been able to help employers reduce medical expenses and reduce workers\u2019 compensation costs by up to 50 percent.<\/p>\n
The Osceola County Sheriff\u2019s clinic is the third location of UCF Health, formerly known as UCF Pegasus Health. All physicians at UCF Health are faculty members who teach at the College of Medicine. Many also conduct research with clinical and research partners across the community, UCF and at the medical school\u2019s Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences.<\/p>\n
The College of Medicine opened its first clinic in 2011 at University and Quadrangle Boulevards, just blocks from the main UCF campus. UCF Health\u2019s second location opened March 16 in the heart of Medical City. Both UCF Health locations provide primary and specialty care under one roof to patients across the community ages 16 and up. The Medical City location will soon add additional specialists, including a dermatologist, more rheumatology experts and a primary care physician with a focus on scientifically-based alternative medical treatments.<\/p>\n
The Sheriff\u2019s Office center, under the leadership of a College of Medicine faculty physician board certified in family medicine, will serve patients ages 8 and up. It will provide primary care, sick-day visits, gynecological exams and maintenance of diseases such as hypertension and diabetes, along with occupational and workers\u2019 compensation visits. Patients can be referred to UCF Health doctors who specialize in high-demand areas such as cardiology, endocrinology, rheumatology, nephrology and sports medicine or to other community physicians.<\/p>\n
Sheriff Hansell noted that the combination of primary care on-site and trusted specialists for referrals will help deputies who are injured in the line of duty and those with more complicated chronic conditions like heart disease and diabetes. \u201cWe are dedicated to keeping our community and our members safe and in the best possible health,\u201d he said. \u201cWe couldn\u2019t ask for better partners than the UCF College of Medicine and Medical Risk Solutions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr. German said UCF hopes to partner with other local businesses and organizations to provide similar on-site health centers. \u201cWe know workplace centers can improve health and cut healthcare costs,\u201d she said. \u201cAt the College of Medicine, we\u2019re training a new kind of doctor for the 21st century. We\u2019re researching cures for the diseases that plague humanity. And because of that, we\u2019re able to bring the future of healthcare to patients today.\u201d<\/p>\n
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