A recent BusinessWeek article described the growing popularity of company-based medical centers. In setting up a clinic, an employer can identify services it wants to provide to its workers and hire an outside firm to manage the project.

Many firms offer employees a break on co-pays and other incentives if they use the center. P.H. Glatfelter, a York (Pa.)-based paper manufacturer, says the company reduced costs by $2.1 million last year using a Take Care Health clinic to serve 1,700 workers at one of its plants.

A large portion of the savings comes from cutting unnecessary specialist referrals. Only four percent of the patients at the plant are sent to a specialist, while 25 percent of patients in the surrounding community are referred out. By avoiding 2,100 such visits, with an average fee of $250, the company shaved $525,000 from its total health-care bill.