City Furniture Launches Health & Wellness Center To Trim Insurance Costs, Provide Mecical Services.

Furniture World News Desk on 9/23/2012

Celebrating the opening of City Furniture’s on-site Health & Wellness Center were, from left, City Furniture President Keith Koenig; Doreen Koenig; Holy Cross Hospital Nurse Practitioner Sylvia Davis, ARNP; and Holy Cross Hospital President and CEO Patrick A. Taylor, M.D.

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Just steps away – literally -- from its largest furniture showroom, City Furniture this week opened a fully equipped Health & Wellness Center, offering free preventive and urgent medical care to the top-selling South Florida furniture retailer’s 925 employees and their families.

Staffed by Holy Cross Hospital of Fort Lauderdale, the approximately 2000-square-foot clinic within City Furniture’s million-square-foot corporate office, showroom and distribution complex in Tamarac reflects a fast-growing business trend. As healthcare costs spiral higher, large employers are investing in workplace health centers to cut insurance premium expense, while boosting employee productivity and satisfaction.

City Furniture Managing Director of Human Resources Janet Wincko expects the new Center’s long-term benefits to go far beyond cost savings. “Finding and keeping the best talent to serve our diverse Florida markets is a major priority and ongoing challenge,“ she said “Providing access to high quality, free healthcare lets our people know that when we say nurturing and respecting our team is a core value, we live that value.”

Also, as a self-funded insurer, City Furniture and its employees are well positioned to save on costs through the new Center, Wincko added. Preventive care that improves employees’ health can reduce overall claims dramatically. For City Furniture employees, the new center saves hours that would otherwise be spent traveling to and waiting for treatment. It also eliminates the need to pay co-pays or to draw funds from Health Reimbursement Accounts, depending on which type of insurance plan City Furniture employees have chosen.

While workplace health centers flourished briefly in the 1980s, they soon fell out of favor based on cost. Today’s rising healthcare costs have revived the trend in South Florida and across the country. A national study by Towers Watson and the National Business Group on Health in 2011, for example, showed that 23% of mid- and large-sized U.S. employers surveyed operated on-site health clinics, and another 12% planned to do so this year.

Among the City Furniture Health & Wellness Center’s services available for each employee, their spouse or domestic partner and children age 16 and older are treatment of minor illnesses; basic physician exams and biometric screenings; monitoring of chronic conditions; initial treatment of work-related injuries; plus health education and coaching.

The company’s on-site employer-sponsored Center complements the role of employees’ primary care physicians. Holy Cross Hospital provides a Nurse Practitioner to staff the new City Furniture Health & Wellness Center every weekday, and a Holy Cross Medical Group internist who is Board Certified in Occupational Medicine serves as medical director. When the nurse practitioner identifies needs for further treatment, patients are referred back to their primary care physician.

“Our confidence in the excellence of medical care Holy Cross Hospital provides makes it the ideal partner,” said Wincko. This is Holy Cross’ initial contract with an employer-based medical facility, as the hospital looks to strategically grow its occupational medicine presence throughout Broward County, according to Holy Cross Hospital President and CEO Patrick A. Taylor, M.D.

“Holy Cross Hospital looks forward to working with City Furniture to improve the health and quality of life of members of our community. We understand the benefit of having exemplary healthcare within easy reach, from the employer’s and the healthcare provider’s perspective. This is an exciting new endeavor in keeping with our commitment to grow to meet the evolving healthcare needs of South Florida,” Dr. Taylor said.

City Furniture operates 14 City Furniture and nine Ashley Furniture HomeStore locations in Southeast and Southwest Florida. For information visit www.cityfurniture.com.