The Clark County School District is contracting with a wellness center to provide no-cost primary care to approximately 11,000 support professionals and police.
Superintendent Jesus Jara mentioned the services during his State of the Schools address in late January. The day before, the school board approved a $1.4 million purchasing award with Vera Whole Health to provide the services.
The purchasing award — a three-year contract with a two-year renewal option — was approved as part of the consent agenda, where multiple items are approved in one batch.
“This is intended to provide a more in-depth service and better care for our employees,” the district’s Chief Financial Officer Jason Goudie told the Review-Journal Tuesday.
Money for the primary care services will come from the school district’s general fund.
Vera Whole Health, headquartered in Seattle, has care centers in approximately 10 states, including Nevada. School district support professionals and police will initially have access to existing centers in Summerlin and Green Valley.
The school district is still in contract negotiations and a date hasn’t yet been set for when employees can start using the wellness centers, according to Goudie. Available hours for the services are also being discussed.
Goudie said it could be at least a month or so before the offering is available to district employees, but that he doesn’t anticipate contract negotiations taking a significant amount of time.
Who is eligible?
The wellness centers will be available to employees who are insured under a school district medical plan, which includes support professionals represented by the Education Support Employees Association, as well as Clark County School District Police Department officers and administrators.
It doesn’t include licensed professionals such as teachers who are insured by THT Health, which is overseen by the Clark County Education Association teachers union and has faced years of financial issues and received multiple bailouts from taxpayers.
For employees insured by the school district, the wellness centers are “essentially a supplemental medical offering,” which will allow them to use primary care-type services at no additional cost, including no copay, according to Goudie.
Goudie said he was introduced to the concept of wellness centers about four years ago and that it’s an idea that is starting to be more widely used across the U.S. to provide better care.
Doctors aren’t dealing with insurance paperwork, Goudie said, so they have more time to spend with patients.
The model is also intended to reach employees who aren’t typically seeing a doctor on a regular basis due to factors such as cost or a lack of time.
Ultimately, Goudie said, it will allow the school district to have a healthier workforce.
Contact Julie Wootton-Greener at [email protected] or 702-387-2921. Follow @julieswootton on Twitter.
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