MARSHFIELD, WI (WSAU) — The City of Marshfield has signed on to participate in a first-in-the-country “E-Clinic” pilot program.
That’s according to Chris Meyer, Director of Virtual Health for Marshfield Clinic Health Systems, who says city employees will be able to visit a virtual clinic right at City Hall with some advanced new technology that will collect heart, lung and other vital data.
“This is brand new,” Meyer said. “There’s nobody in the nation who’s using the technology that we’re going to use. The hardware, and the way we’re proposing to use it to specifically lower the utilization of health plans.”
“We’re asking employees to be more engaged and interactive with their healthcare,” Meyer explained. “They’re going to be in a secure room here at City Hall. They’re going to be collecting their own ‘vitals’ before they start their visit, based on vitals we require for a particular visit.”
Meyer says the goal is keeping the city’s health plan costs down by reducing the utilization of actual doctors visits. There’ll be a $2,000 cost to the city to participate in the pilot program which will cover 50 virtual healthcare visits, but there’ll be no cost to city employees who utilize the new ‘E-clinic’ program.
