A vote is scheduled for the Sept. 15 council meeting.
If approved, the city would lease about 1,200 square feet somewhere downtown to house a couple of exams rooms, which would be staffed and maintained by local physicians hired by a Brentwood, Tenn., firm Care Here.
City Manager Bill Bruton said the clinic is a way to reduce rising health care costs brought about by President Obama's new health care legislation.
With the clinic, the city would see a 4 percent increase in its health insurance bill or about $300,000. Without the clinic, the cost rises about 8 percent or $600,000. The city's health insurance bill was $8,292,447 for fiscal year 2010 and is budgeted at $8,623,736 for fiscal year 2011 with the clinic or $8,955,052 without the clinic, he said.
The city, which is self- insured, uses insurance provider Blue Cross Blue Shield.
Marietta's existing health insurance plan spans the current calendar year. The proposed plan would end when the council's term expires on Dec. 31, 2012.
The clinic would not cause the city's 760 employees and their dependents to see an increase in cost.
Bruton explains how this is possible.
"The cost per visit at the clinic is less than the cost at an office outside the clinic," Bruton said. "One way that this is accomplished is through the elimination of the paperwork that regular offices have to file to get paid. They have to spend a lot of time and money submitting the required paperwork to get paid by insurance companies, individuals and the federal government. With the clinic, they eliminate much of that paperwork and the medical staff is able to spend more time with patients, so the cost per patient visit decreases."
The clinic would serve a total of 2,199 people who may use the clinic anytime they want for as many times as they want during clinic hours, which have yet to be determined.
Employees pay a $25 co-payment when visiting their family doctor. And they can continue to see their family doctor under the new plan, they just get the option of visiting the clinic, at no cost to them, as well.
Bruton estimates a $3 million savings to the city over the next three years with the clinic. One of the benefits of the program is that the same day employees are injured or sick, they can visit the clinic, returning to work in as little as 30 minutes. So the clinic should cut down on sick time.
"It is a combination of savings we will experience in various areas: office visit fees, workers' comp costs, pre-employment physical costs, and drug testing costs," he said. "The amount of savings increases over time as regular insurance rates increase each year and we are able to avoid substantial portions of those increases as our clinic usage increases."
The Care Here firm scored highest among seven firms that responded to the city's Request for Proposals with We Care TLC and Concentra Health Service scoring in second and third places.
Other cities that use such clinics include Monroe, Gainesville and Chattanooga, Bruton said.
Mayor Steve Tumlin, who has kept an eye on the proposal as it has worked its way through the RFP process, said he supports the idea.
"The fact that there was six or seven other vendors out there that already have experience in it just shows that it's something that's evolving already, that's come among us," Tumlin said.
Councilman Johnny Sinclair said he wants to learn more before voting.
"I always get nervous when people say they're going to save $3 million over three years, but the (staff) that did this is a bunch of people that I think are top notch. I mean, they know what they're talking about," Sinclair said.
Councilman Philip Goldstein said before any contract is signed, he wants to make sure a clause is inserted allowing the city to cancel the agreement with Care Here in the event Obama's healthcare legislation is struck down in the court system.
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