Montgomery County Employees Get New Health Care Option

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, TX — Montgomery County is offering county employees another health care option after the Montgomery County Commissioners Court at its regular meeting Tuesday reached an agreement with Next Level Urgent Care.

Under the agreement, employees can enroll in Next Level Prime. Enrollees and their dependents will be able to use 17 Next Level Urgent Care facilities for acute care, chronic medical conditions and annual physicals at no cost to the patient per visit, according to the Next Level website. Other employee benefits include 24/7 access to care navigation and telemedicine services.

Next Level has urgent care facilities across the Greater Houston area, including locations in Conroe and The Woodlands. Montgomery County Purchasing Director Gilbert Jalamo said at the meeting that Next Level also was adding a new clinic "right down the street" in Kingwood with another one planned in Magnolia. According to the Next Level website, the Kingwood facility is scheduled to open in September.

"If you're on vacation in Galveston, you can go to [the clinic] in League City," Jalamo said. "They've got [locations in] Baytown, Champions, Sugar Land. There's coverage everywhere."

Jalamo, who worked on this project for over a year, said that employees in rural Precincts 2 and 4 didn't utilize the county's medical clinic in Conroe as much as they would like. This prompted the county to look into opening another clinic in Precinct 4 before making contact with Next Level.

"That's awesome," County Judge Mark Keough said of the plan.

Jalamo said the county will pay $55 per month per participant.

"There is no charge [to participants], and there is no charge behind the scenes to the county," Jalamo said.