BILLINGS PUBLIC SCHOOLS NEW miCARE CLINIC
OPEN HOUSE, THURSDAY, APRIL 18
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MEDIA CONTACTS: LynAnn Henderson, Executive Vice President Business Development
[email protected], (406) 869-6532
Jarrod Weenum, Director of miCare & Prescription Services;
[email protected]; (office direct) 406-869-6548 ; (cell) 406-860-6343
BILLINGS, MONT
miCare, a subsidiary company of Billings-headquartered EBMS, which runs miCare clinics for both
private- and public-sector organizations. Although the new BPS miCare Clinic has been taking
appointments since April 3, the official opening will be this Thursday, April 18, from 4:00 – 7:00
p.m., with an open house at the miCare Clinic’s Lincoln Center site, 415 North 30th Street.
As a self-funded insurance plan, the idea of implementing its own miCare Clinic for 1,750 BPS
eligible employees and their dependents has been discussed for several years, but with healthcare costs
rising, the district desired to be aggressive in containing costs by moving the miCare Clinic initiative
forward. The decision was made by the BPS insurance committee and approved by the Billings School
District 2 Board of Trustees. Looking to be proactive in its cost savings to its insurance fund, the
district opened the clinic with the anticipation of significant savings to this fund in the coming years.
The BPS miCare clinic will be staffed by Dr. Tom James, nurse practitioner Candace Stearns, and
LPNs Marcy Eschler and Julie Beltran, providing general medical services, lab work, and
prescriptions for eligible BPS employees, their families and retirees.
A second BPS miCare Clinic will open in Billings Heights, at 926 Main Street, Suite #5, on May 6.
Should the Heights and Lincoln Center clinics prove successful, the district could look to open a third
location in the future. The Lincoln Center miCare Clinic initially will operate 24 hours a week; the
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-2Heights miCare Clinic 16 hours. As utilization and demand increase, said Jarrod Weenum, director of
miCare and prescription services, so will the hours of operation.
BPS is one of nine miCare Clinics, serving 11 EBMS clients: three in Billings; two in Yakima, Wash.;
Bellingham, Wash.; Blackfoot, Idaho; Frisco, Colo.; and, Laurel, Mont. EBMS opened its first miCare
Clinic, on-site for its own employees, in April 2006. The City of Yakima, Wash., was the first local
government entity in the state of Washington to open its own miCare Clinic, on February 20. Some
miCare Clinics are on-site, if the employer has space; or, the miCare Clinics are operated in off-site
locations.
Weenum said the miCare Clinic model can apply to any type of organization or business that offers
healthcare to a minimum of 300 employees; or, to multiple groups that agree to share a clinic. “The
benefit of miCare,” Weenum added, “is that it creates a very efficient delivery of healthcare and serves
as a ‘patient centered medical home’ focused on wellness, prevention, and chronic-disease
management, thereby creating healthier and more productive employees.”
Weenum emphasized that the miCare Clinics have strong partnerships with the local medical
community, where employees of the businesses and organizations miCare serves are encouraged to
maintain their relationships with their established physicians and specialists: “miCare provides basic
services, but when specialty care is required, we work closely with area providers to ensure the
patient’s care is streamlined to the next step. We in Billings are so fortunate to have some of the finest
healthcare providers in the country, and miCare is one of their strongest advocates.”
For more information about the miCare Clinics, call EBMS at (406) 245-3575. For more information
about Thursday’s miCare Clinic open house for BPS, call Shelley Van Atta at (406) 869-6543.
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4.16.13
LynAnn Henderson
Executive Vice President
Business Development
(406) 869-6532
[email protected]
ebms
2075 Overland Avenue
P.O. Box 21367
Billings, MT 59104-1367
www.ebms.com