Tyson Foods marks 3 years with its Bright Blue Health Clinics

Healthcare access continues to be a hurdle for many working Americans, especially in rural areas. Three years ago, Springdale-based Tyson Foods began offering medical care to employees in several areas with limited access primary care.

Tyson said in 2021 some of its employees were not using their health plan benefits because of access to convenient options. The first seven clinics were a pilot to see if a partnership approach would help employees have a primary care option near their workplace.

Tyson partnered with Marathon Health in the spring of 2021 to open Bright Blue Health Centers in communities where it operates food processing. Green Forest, Ark., was one of the first seven clinics to open. Other locations were Newbern, Tenn., Lexington, Neb., Wilkesboro, N.C., Center, Texas, Storm Lake, Iowa, and Garden City, Kan.

Tyson said nearly 40,000 employees and their families have access to the Bright Blue Health Centers. Tyson Foods also partnered with Premise Health to operate an additional center near its Enid, Okla., facility, bringing the total to eight.

Marathon staffs and manages the clinics offering preventive and acute care, health screenings, lifestyle coaching, health education, behavior health counseling and lab work. Kyle Lambs is the Tyson Foods case manager at Marathon Health who said he signed on three years ago to manage and oversee this partnership.

He said Tyson is a self-insured company and through its partnership with Marathon, it pays for the primary care given at the clinic by physician’s assistants, nurses, medical assistants, dietitians and behavioral health professionals. He said the health professionals don’t lose time having to file claims that traditional clinics must do and they have more time to spend with patients.

To use the clinic services, with which there is no co-pay, Tyson employees must use the company’s health insurance program. Clinic visits increased to 25,090 last year, up 23% from 2022. Tyson also reports employee satisfaction ratings topped 97% for satisfied or very satisfied. Short wait times and on-site translation services in 39 different languages were the biggest reasons employees said they like and use the Bright Blue clinics.

Sara Grigg lives on a farm near Green Forest and worked for Tyson Foods as a nurse supervisor for five years until 2021. She worked in the plant treating emergency and occupational injuries and illness. She said Tyson was supportive of her getting the advanced nursing degree which she earned in 2021. Grigg left Tyson to get clinical experience but returned and is now one of two advanced nurse practitioners in a small group of eight at the Green Forest clinic.

“Now that I am with Marathon at the Bright Blue Health Center in Green Forest, it has come full circle for me. I love my job serving the hardworking people at the local Tyson plant and their families,” Grigg said. “Many of my patients walk to the clinic from their homes or the plant across the street. We have a significant Burmese population from Myanmar (Burma) at the plant and in the community and many do not drive. We also offer language translation services and over time they have learned to trust us.”

Grigg said the clinic works to see patients around their work schedules and because they are close to the plant it’s convenient to walk over and then get back to their job.

Jason Murray worked for Tyson Foods in Green Forest for 27 years. He grew up in the area and started his career as a chicken catcher on the live haul crew, he worked hanging chickens for slaughter and then drove a live haul truck. For the past few years, Murray has been a welder who repairs the chicken cages used by the live haul crew.

Murray, 54, had gallbladder surgery but continued to have issues that a primary care doctor could not resolve. Murray turned to the Bright Blue Health Clinic and met with Grigg. She tested his thyroid and found it to be overactive and responsible for some of his symptoms.  Murray said she had answers and it did not cost him a cent.

“You just go inside the clinic and tell them your name, and they look up your case and can see you in about five minutes or less. They also don’t herd you through like cattle, but they take their time with you and I like they can see me at 5:30 right after work which means I don’t have to take off,” Murray said.

Grigg said the clinic works to see patients around their work schedules and because they are so close to the plant it’s convenient to walk over and then get back to their job quickly.

A series of stories posted in late 2022 by the Pulitzer Center offered a critical look at Tyson’s efforts to offer medical care.

“Tyson Foods’ own model now strategically routes injured workers to company nurses and clinics, a process some allege short-circuits injury reports to OSHA, limits scrutiny, and complicates injured workers’ access to healthcare, workers compensation, and damages for life-changing injuries,” the article noted.