Boeing opened a new, 4,200-square-foot medical clinic near its Port San Antonio facility, where it will provide low- or no-cost primary care to its workers.
It could soon open to other employers at Port San Antonio, who say that this type of healthcare opportunity can improve health outcomes and lower insurance costs for their workers.
Boeing spokesperson Dee Russell said the clinic will provide “same- or next-day virtual and in-person primary care services, including mental health support, physical therapy, chiropractic care, health coaching, and specialist referrals,” to its employees and their families.
The clinic offers primary care, but clinicians can also refer patients to other specialists for more important treatments.
Six clinicians with two workers in clinical support roles are able to provide 140 visits per week, Russell added.
“This approach not only reduces long-term healthcare costs but also helps Boeing manage health insurance expenses sustainably, allowing us to continue offering great benefits that meet employees’ needs,” she said.
The new clinic is in partnership with Crossover Health, a primary healthcare provider that has seven clinics in Texas and more than a dozen across the country. Crossover has already partnered with Boeing in the Seattle and St. Louis areas.
The healthcare provider also has another clinic in San Antonio at Frost Bank Tower, said Chief Medical Officer Dr. Stephen Ezeji-Okoye. He said Crossover wants to offer patients more than just basic treatments.
“Our care process is really about providing holistic care,” Ezeji-Okoye said. “It’s not just the absence of disease, it’s making sure people are healthy beyond the biological.”
That’s why Crossover offers mental health support, physical therapy and a chiropractor, he added. Ezeji-Okoye said primary care is an opportunity to look at the whole person, not just an individual issue.
“You are not just mitigating illness, you’re trying to prevent illness and prolong their healthspans, the period of time when they’re healthy,” he said.
The space also provides dental services by Onsite Dental, a California-based mobile dentistry company.
Russell said Boeing has used this clinic model since 2015. The company has clinics in St. Louis, Seattle and Mesa. In the Seattle and Mesa areas, Boeing has multiple clinics its workers can go to.
“Our patient-focused primary care model has emphasized prevention and early intervention,” she said. “By keeping patients healthy and providing same- or next-day appointments, we help catch health concerns early—avoiding more expensive emergency room visits and hospital admissions.”
Boeing isn’t alone. On-site clinics have become more and more popular among employers, said Allison De Paoli, who runs Altique, a San Antonio-based health insurance consultancy.
Their accessibility and low cost are popular with employees, she said, and help employers contain health insurance costs.
The system creates a dependable cost for businesses, she said. Rather than dealing with insurance rates or expensive medical emergencies that can impact budgets, clinics have a stable cost from year to year. It’s something De Paoli has worked on with other clients in San Antonio.
“We will use that whenever we can because it’s so effective at containing costs,” she said.
Insurance rates in Texas could be set to climb by 16%, De Paoli added, and employers should be looking at ways to reduce that increase.
The clinic could soon be an option to the other businesses that operate at Port San Antonio. Staff at the sprawling research campus, which once housed Kelly Air Force Base, will start using the facility in October.
President and CEO Jim Perschbach said the clinic will be a good, supplemental resource for Port San Antonio workers and could help attract other companies to the site because it provides employees with a low-cost way to take care of themselves.
“We’re big believers that the more you take care of your health, the easier it is to fix you up,” he said.
