Celebrating 40 years of care: The story of SAS’ onsite Health Care Center

Our employees’ health and well-being is important to us, and has been since the very beginning. That’s why our Headquarters Campus has 28 acres dedicated to the physical fitness of employees, a Work/Life Center staffed with licensed clinical social workers, and so much more… including a one-of-a-kind on-site Health Care Center!

This month, the SAS Health Care Center (HCC) will celebrate its 40th year of providing the highest quality healthcare to SAS employees and their families. The HCC came about like many of our other campus perks – organically and centered around employees; and today it’s one of our employees’ most beloved onsite perks.

Health Care Center employees celebrate the HCC's 10th anniversary in 1994.

A little history

The HCC began in our early days with just one nurse practitioner, providing basic acute services. Demand grew quickly and the HCC responded, expanding in the 1990s to provide comprehensive primary care for SAS employees and their families – all on SAS campus. Today, the Health Care Center team is over 60 people strong and includes family physicians and nurse practitioners, registered nurses, nutritionists, a physical therapist, medical lab technologists and more.

“Our mission is to provide exceptional care as a medical home for employees and their family members,” shares Sonya Glavin, Director of the Health Care Center. “We’re committed to delivering comprehensive, personalized and compassionate health care, fostering strong provider-patient relationships and empowering our patients to actively participate in their healthcare journey. We strive to be a trusted partner in our patients’ pursuit of lifelong health and wellness.”

Focused on whole-person care

The HCC’s whole-person, family-oriented philosophy of care includes everything you’d expect from a top-notch primary care practice, including:

Physical exams for all ages

The Health Care Center is the medical home for many HQ-based SAS employees and their families.

Infant, child and adult immunizations

Treatment of acute illnesses

Triage, treatment and referral of emergencies

Chronic disease management

Labs and other screening and diagnostic testing

Plus, an array of other healthcare services that make the HCC a one-of-a-kind experience:

A full-service lab that performs tests ordered by the HCC and community providers

Physical therapy

Nutrition

Lactation services and award-winning breastfeeding support program

Travel immunizations

Minor office procedures

At the HCC, same-day appointments are the norm, and providers prioritize spending adequate time with each and every patient. “Because SAS funds the HCC as a benefit for employees, we have the flexibility to spend more time providing comprehensive care and meeting the needs of our patients,” explains Amy Ford, HCC Office Administrator.

What’s the one thing missing from the Health Care Center? A billing department. That’s because all HCC services are provided free of charge to employees and dependents covered on SAS’ PPO medical plan, saving our SAS families hundreds of thousands of dollars each year. And HCC patients don’t travel far for their prescriptions – the adjacent Health Care Center pharmacy fills over 100,000 prescriptions each year for SAS families, at a reduced rate. Not local? They ship for free.

“Our providers are a special group of people – they care deeply for our patients,” shares Amy Ford, HCC Office Administrator. “For parents, the HCC is especially invaluable. You can come in as many times as you need to – especially in the early days of a child’s life. When daycare calls, the HCC can often help immediately. It’s a one-stop-shop, and we’re on-call nights and weekends to provide support after hours,” she explains.

Good health is good business

The Health Care Center’s model of care isn’t just great for patients – it also makes good business sense. In 2023, the HCC logged over 35,000 patient visits and saved SAS over 7 million dollars in avoided medical plan claims and employee time savings.

At SAS, everything we do centers around our people and our shared mission to be the most trustworthy analytics partner on the planet. We know that happy, healthy people bring that energy to work and that engaged employees are more productive and more equipped to serve our customers, ultimately leading to greater success for SAS. Sonya says it best: “The HCC isn’t just a building or a department. It’s about people and relationships, and it’s the devotion to quality that makes the HCC successful and meaningful to SAS employees and their families.”

Join us in wishing the Health Care Center staff and providers a very happy birthday in the comments!

Want to learn more about the #saslife? Read about Our Culture, take a virtual photo tour of our Headquarters and check out sas.com/careers to explore open jobs.