Colorado Springs school district saves big bucks by having employees stick with one hospital

April 18--Colorado Springs School District 11 saved $1.9 million by switching from Memorial Hospital to Penrose- St. Francis Health Services as its employees' sole hospital provider, district and hospital officials announced Friday.

The savings came during the first year of a partnership between the district and Penrose-St. Francis, which began July 1, 2013. During the 2013-14 school year, 5,300 district employees, their spouses and dependents also saved $350,000 in out-of-pocket costs due to the partnership, said Jessica Reijgers, the district's manager of employee benefits.

Although employees still saw a "slight" increase in their monthly premiums, the $1.9 million in savings helped cut down out-of-pocket costs and co-pays, she said.

"When the health insurance is always increasing -- not only for the district, but nationwide -- we didn't have to see as big of an increase as everyone else may have seen," Reijgers said.

The district's savings came largely from lower negotiated rates offered by Penrose- St. Francis, along with better coordinated care, hospital and district officials said. The district is self-insured.

Case managers were on hand to help patients. And employees were offered screenings and other benefits to improve their health. In all, 2,015 employees took part in the screenings last school year, and 1,632 have been screened this school year, said Kris Baldwin, an executive with Penrose-St. Francis.

The next phase of the partnership comes July 1, when an employee health clinic opens at 3027 N. Circle Drive. The facility will be similar to an urgent care clinic and is meant to reduce district employees' emergency room visits.

A similar partnership will begin June 1 with Centura Health and Phil Long Dealerships, said Margaret Sabin, Penrose-St. Francis' president and chief executive.

"I just hope it's a model of collaboration for our city," Sabin said. "If we spend less money on health care because we're getting people healthier . what's not to love?"

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