Syniverse expects free on-site health clinic to save it $1 million over five years

In its own twist to health care reform, Tampa-based Syniverse has opened a new on-site facility that offers free medical services to its 650 employees and their families.

The nurse practitioner at the clinic is available to treat a range of ailments. Employees and their families will also have access to 20 of the most common prescriptions and can use the clinic to develop individual wellness plans.

Syniverse, which provides technology and business solutions for telecommunications companies, expects the clinic to save it $1 million over five years. The clinic, which opened July 6, will help lower absenteeism, boost productivity and cut corporate health care costs, because employees will be healthier, spokeswoman Diane Rose said after a news conference to unveil the facility Monday.

"This on-site health center will be a tremendous benefit to our employees, helping them improve work-life balance through access to high-quality health care at the office," president and chief executive Tony Holcombe said in a news release.

U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Tampa, was on hand for the unveiling. She said wellness initiatives like this can help lower the cost of health care for individuals and businesses.

"If there is easy access and no co-pay, workers are much more likely to get checkups and health care," Castor said. "And by going to an on-site clinic, they are able to get back on the job much faster."

Castor said Syniverse's center is the "wave of the future." She is trying to add a provision to the health care reform bill that will provide grants to businesses that start on-site clinics and other wellness initiatives.