Bethlehem
Steel Plans To Construct
A Primary Health Care Facility
in Northwest Indiana
Bethlehem Steel Corporation
For Immediate Release
BURNS HARBOR, Ind., September 24, 1999
� Plans to construct a primary health care facility in Northwest Indiana were announced today by Curtis H. Barnette, chairman and chief executive officer of Bethlehem Steel Corporation.The new Burns Harbor Family Health Center will serve active and retired employees of Bethlehem Steel who reside in the Burns Harbor area, and their dependents. The Center will be centrally located in relation to the Division
�s workforce population, in a facility to be constructed near Chesterton, just south of the Indiana Toll Road, at the intersection of the Route 49 Bypass and Old Route 49. Groundbreaking for the new Center is scheduled for late October, with opening contemplated for the spring of 2000.Mr. Barnette said the decision to build the Family Health Center was made after an in- depth feasibility study and consideration of a number of alternatives.
"We are committed to provide quality health care benefits to our employees, retirees and their dependents," said Mr. Barnette. " Health care costs are significantly higher in Northwest Indiana than at any other Bethlehem location and we want to develop and implement appropriate ways to help manage these costs." "The Burns Harbor Division spends over $37.5 million dollars annually for health care in Northwest Indiana. For the past several years, in an attempt to control our health care costs, we worked diligently to develop managed care plans with a number of providers," said Dr. Walter N. Bargeron, president of Bethlehem�s Burns Harbor Division. Dr. Bargeron continued, "Unfortunately, many of our efforts were unsuccessful, and the plans that were implemented have not been cost effective. With health care costs continuing to rise, we concluded that building our own health care facility, staffed with qualified, experienced physicians, nurses and support staff, was the right alternative."Dorothy Stephenson, Bethlehem
�s vice president, human resources, said the new Burns Harbor Family Health Center will be modeled after the Corporation�s successful Family Health Center in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, which opened in 1993. "Our six years� experience in Bethlehem should help us develop a high quality, comprehensive primary care center for our more than 17,000 employees, retirees and dependents in Northwest Indiana," said Ms. Stephenson.The Burns Harbor Family Health Center will offer on-site physician primary care, laboratory and X-ray services and a pharmacy. Employees will be able to schedule appointments with a selected doctor. Patients will be referred to specialists and hospitals for acute care. Use of the new Center will be voluntary, and employees will maintain their current health insurance.
Bethlehem has signed a contract with Corporate Health Dimensions (CHD), a leading provider of directly-contracted health care centers, to manage the Burns Harbor Family Health Center. CHD manages more than 40 family health and occupational medicine centers across the country, including USX
�s facility in Merrillville, and the Bethlehem Steel center in Bethlehem, Pa.The Burns Harbor Health Care Cost Containment Committee, a steering committee comprised of both Division union and management representatives, was a participant in the feasibility study leading up to the decision to build the Burns Harbor Family Health Center and supported the decision.