From businessweek.com:
The company doctor is back. Its a tradition with roots in the 1800s, but the practice fell from grace in the 1930s and 1940s, when critics complained that the doctors were mainly serving the employers interests. Many states passed laws requiring such medical centers to be owned by physicians. Even now there are calls for monitoring the clinics, to ensure they emphasize patient care over savings.
Nevertheless, in a climate of deepening health-care woes, company-based medical centers are winning dozens of fresh converts. These include the North American units of Toyota and Nissan NSANY, Harrahs Entertainment, and Walt Disney Parks & Resorts. Pharmacy chain Walgreen WAG, which also operates nearly 200 small clinics for customers at its retail stores, sees so much growth in on-site medical centers that in May it snapped up Take Care Health. A recent study by benefits-consulting firm Watson Wyatt Worldwide WW found that 32% of all employers with more than 1,000 workers either have an on-site medical center or plan to build one by 2009. “Were talking about a microcosm of health-care reform,” says Hal Rosenbluth, president of Walgreens health and wellness division. “Companies can take control and understand their health-care costs.”
