Firm, local hospitals discuss occupational venture

A Texas-based, occupational-health company has been in Harrisburg for about a month, and there's already talk of a joint venture with two local hospitals.

PinnacleHealth, Community General Osteopathic Hospital and Dallas-based OccuSystems Inc. have been discussing the possibility of forming a joint venture. OccuSystems manages doctors' practices and specializes in occupational health care.

In addition to helping patients who got hurt on the job, OccuSystems conducts drug screenings, pre-employment tests and physical examinations for transportation employees.

OccuSystems is the parent company of Concentra Medical Centers. Concentra has an occupational-health center in Swatara Township and has had one in York for the past two years.

If the venture becomes a reality, these three entities would have joint ownership of a business that would provide occupational-health services in the Harrisburg area.

But it would be competing with the Alliance sup 4 Health WorkNet, the area's first community-based, regional occupational-medicine program, now open for business in Mechanicsburg and Hummelstown. A third WorkNet site is planned to open later this spring along South Cameron Street in Harrisburg.

WorkNet cooperates with nearly 1,000 doctors in the Alliance sup 4 network. "There's enough room in the market for all of us. We certainly believe we have a product that's competitive, if not better," said Robert Watkins, administrative director for the Alliance sup 4 Health WorkNet. "We're locally managed, and we have the strength of the four best hospitals behind us." WorkNet was formed in the summer of 1996 and grew out of occupational-medical practices, such as those at Holy Spirit Hospital and Penn State's Hershey Medical Center.

The two regional entities would compete on quality of care, price, availability and location, Watkins said.

OccuSystems manages the practices of more than 100 doctors in more than 60 occupational health-care centers in a dozen states. Sales for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 1996, were $170 million, according to OccuSystems.

The company is forming a national network quickly, so when it enters a market, an independent hospital has to decide whether it wants to compete or partner with the group, said Jeff Wiles, executive director of systems advancement (marketing and planning) at Community General Osteopathic Hospital.

OccuSystems acquired one New Jersey-based and four Maryland-based occupational-health companies in 1996 and another in New Jersey in February. If the Harrisburg venture comes to fruition, an employee would go to Concentra for an initial visit and perhaps some follow-up treatment. If surgery were required, the patient would go to the hospital.

Added Bill Wilkison, administrative director of ambulatory services for Pinnacle, "This is an opportunity for us to affiliate with a top-quality, national company whose only business is occupational-health services. We feel our services can bring more benefits to employers in the region."

Concentra has a computer database for all its patients, enabling it to track them throughout their working lives. "This proprietary system gives employers reliable information and that goes well beyond what we've been able to provide to employers," Wilkison added.

OccuSystems also has contracts with large national employers, a number of which have local offices, and that is another attraction for Pinnacle.

The company already has four similar joint ventures, none of which are on the East Coast.

"So much of what we do requires a hand-and-glove relationship with specialists and hospitals," said Tom Ward, vice president of operations for the eastern region of OccuSystems.

Ward said OccuSystems strives to get employees back to work as quickly as possible. Currently, employers spent a lot on legal and administrative costs rather than on medical care for employees who get hurt on the job.

Wiles and Wilkison said it is premature to say how a joint venture would affect the jobs of doctors currently working at both hospitals.

But Ward said OccuSystems has brought doctors to its system when it formed other joint ventures. OccuSystems has also honored the original tenure agreements of doctors who transferred to OccuSystems as a result of a joint venture.