News
Lowe's Looks to Cleveland Clinic to Fix Employees' Hearts
:: April 7, 2010
By Jeffrey Bendix
Cleveland Clinic’s reputation for providing high-quality medical care while containing costs has led to a pioneering arrangement with home improvement retailer Lowe’s Companies Inc.
Under the agreement announced earlier this year, Lowe’s employees qualifying for certain types of heart surgeries will receive incentives to have the procedures done at the Clinic. Lowe’s will waive the deductible and coinsurance payments, and will cover travel and lodging expenses for the patient and a companion.
U.S. News and World Report ranks the Clinic first in heart surgery and number four in the country as overall best hospital.* Clinic physicians are salaried employees, which removes incentives for unnecessary procedures and tests in order to increase fees. President Obama has cited the Clinic as a model for combining high-quality care and lower costs.
In a press release announcing the agreement, Bob Ihrie, Lowe’s senior vice president of employee rewards and services said, “In working together with Cleveland Clinic, our employees will be able to experience the best of the best in health care with lower out-of-pocket expense than having the surgery at another facility.”
Mooresville, N.C.-based Lowe’s has about 100,000 U.S. employees and an equal number of dependents who are eligible for the program under the company’s self-insurance plan. “By choosing Cleveland Clinic, Lowe’s has given its employees access to specialized cardiac care,” said Michael McMillan, executive director of market and network services at Cleveland Clinic. “We are eager to work with this innovative employer, and offer our services to help them to create a new approach to their health plan.”
In 2009, the hospital performed a record 4,128 heart surgeries. Forty-four percent of heart and chest surgery patients were from outside Ohio.
* http://my.clevelandclinic.org/us_news/default.aspx
