City of Vicksburg employees and their families will be able to get free medical care starting Nov. 1 when officials open “The Clinic,” a city-sponsored health care facility at 1 Medical Plaza across from Promise Hospital.

“I believe this is going to modernize health care,” Mayor George Flaggs Jr. said. “If it’s successful, it will provide the county with an opportunity to join with us and make it available for their employees and dependents.”

The Board of Mayor and Aldermen approved the clinic in July, approving a partnership with the Southern Health Network to provide a nurse practitioner, a health and wellness plan, and a nurse navigator who will work with members and their physicians to improve health care.

The program will cost the city $37,000 a month. However, if after the first six months there are no savings in medical costs, the city will not have to pay until savings are shown.

“There will be no copay to use this clinic,” Flaggs said. “It will help employees and their dependents develop healthy lifestyles and preventive care, and possibly provide prescription drugs at a discount.”

The clinic, he said, will be open 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, and will be staffed by a nurse practitioner.

According to information distributed to city employees, the clinic will provide care for minor illnesses and injuries, health and lifestyle education, health coaching and behavior modification, health risk assessments, annual physicals and help with handling health care issues like diabetes.

Flaggs said the city’s division and department heads will get a look at the clinic Nov. 1, adding, “We’ll have a grand opening and a ribbon-cutting.”

The board initially began examining an in-house clinic in 2015 as a way to save on medical costs by having a central location where employees and their families could get help if they were sick, and to do the city’s drug testing programs for employees. Similar programs have been in place on the coast for several years, and the cities using them have reported saving money on medical costs.

It authorized City Attorney Nancy Thomas in March to begin negotiations with a partnership of Southern Health Network, Medical Analysis and Merit Health River Region Medical Center.