Nurse-managed corporate employee wellness centers

Health care is a major expense for businesses. A nurse-managed Wellness Center in an approximately 1,000-employee corporation has demonstrated how nurse practitioner services can help corporations reduce medical costs while fostering employee satisfaction and addressing aggregate health needs. In the first 6 months of operation, more than half of the company's employees used the wellness center for episodic care, health maintenance, and patient education, saving an estimated $100,000 in averted outside medical care and absenteeism. The worksite community provides an ideal environment to impact health behaviors through primary care linked with health promotion activities. The nurse-managed center provides a model of care more accessible to patients than traditional medical care.