By CARL E. FEATHER - Staff Writer - cfeather@starbeacon.com
ASHTABULA TOWNSHIP — Last year, as the recession took its toll on local industries, Ron McVoy, owner of the State Road Occupational Medical Facility, began exploring ways to make up for the loss of traffic through his facility.
Ironically, he found the answer in the problem. As the recession took hold, the size of Ashtabula County’s uninsured population grew, as did the segment of people who have insurance but still can’t afford to see a physician because of high deductibles and co-pays.
Lois L. Miller, safety program consultant with Occupational Safety Solutions, suggested McVoy use a portion of the former RMI’s building to start a clinic that would address the basic health-care needs of these segments. As a single mom who had gone without health insurance for her family, Miller knew the tremendous need for affordable, self-pay medical services.
“I remember every time (her two teenage boys) played a sport, I’d pray to myself they would not get sick or injured,” says Miller, who owns the drug-free workplace services firm, Occupational Safety Solutions. She says even a minor illness that ended up with a visit to the doctor and a prescription can cost $250 or more.
About that same time, Paul Thompson, a nurse practitioner with a background family health, came was hired by Occupational Medical Facility. McVoy agreed to launch an affordable, self-pay primary health-care clinic. The service quietly opened for business in November 2008, promoted through word-of-mouth and workplace posters.
A year later, both of McVoy’s medical ventures are doing great. The occupational health side has seen a 300-percent increase in business, and the medical clinic recently moved into newly remodeled, brighter offices. The businesses celebrated with an open house Thursday evening.
“We’ve inherited one heck of a lot of business,” said McVoy, referring to the work State Road acquired after Ashtabula County Medical Center closed its Center for Corporate Health in June. “This has been our fifth month of being swamped all the time.”
The family-practice side has also experienced tremendous growth, and recently expanded its hours to a five-day-a-week operation.
“Every month, we’ve been seeing a 10- to 15-percent increase over the previous month,” McVoy said.
Thompson said he saw eight to 10 patients a day when they first opened the clinic. “Now, we’ve had as high as 50 a day,” he said.
The cost of an office visit has risen from $40 to $55 in the past year, but that is less than what many people with insurance pay as a doctor’s visit co-pay. And it is a huge savings for an uninsured person who otherwise would use hospital emergency room services.
The clinic is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, and McVoy is considering adding Saturday hours to make it more family friendly. Thompson said while they prefer patients call ahead for an appointment, the clinic does accept walk-ins.
“If they are really, really sick and need to see a physician, call us and say you need to get in today. We try to accommodate 95 percent of the people that same day,” Thompson said.
All services are self-pay at the time they are provided. The clinic does not accept insurance, Medicare or Medicaid to keep its prices low.
The service is not for everybody, but McVoy says the numbers prove that it’s filling a huge void in the community. He expects those numbers to continue to grow, even as the recession cools, because as factories ramp up, they typically use temporary workers, who don’t have medical insurance.
“We want to be proactive,” McVoy said. “We want to be part of the solution and not part of the problem. Being proactive is really important today.”
