Novia CareClinics LLC opened the first multi-employer clinic for downtown employers Monday at its headquarters at 429 N. Pennsylvania St.

Novia, which operates 50 clinics statewide, made its latest clinic open to other employers. Harrison College, the law firm Plews Shadley Racher & Braun LLP, and McFarling Foods Inc. have joined so far..

The 1,200-square-foot health and wellness center, which was first made public in July, will be staffed with a physician and nurses, offering primary care services 40 hours per week.

The four companies using it have more than 500 employees combined at locations in or near downtown. Novia has said it needs to sign up 1,000 employees to make the cost per employee reasonable.

On-site clinics allow employers to provide free access to primary care, lab work and some common generic drugs. Having enough patients allows the clinics to offer those services at wholesale instead of retail prices.

That savings, as well as a hope that improved access will help keep employees healthier, has driven more and more Indiana employers to embrace the concept.

But many employers have been frozen out of the clinic concept because they have too few employees—or too few of them in any one place—to support one.

If employer demand proves high, Novia could expand its downtown clinic to as large as 2,000 square feet, add a second physician or nurse practitioner, and serve as many as 2,000 employees.