Friday, September 19, 2008 9:47 PM CDT
Coles County medical clinic for uninsured planned
By NATHANIEL WEST, Staff Writer
nwest@jg-tc.com
UPDATED MATTOON — For patients without health insurance, the out-of-pocket cost for a routine visit to the doctor typically is about $100.
Consequently, most uninsured families forgo preventative care — and sometimes end up in the emergency room for that which could have been avoided by a simple trip to the physician’s office, say local health officials.
That’s why an effort is under way to give low-income and uninsured families access to the same services offered at a doctor’s office, but either at no charge or at a fraction of the normal cost.
“It’s to help people in Coles County who are otherwise slipping through the cracks in the health care system,” said Mike Murray, president of the Coles Community Health Program.
This ad hoc group of area health officials and social workers is developing a clinic to provide basic “primary care” services to residents of Coles County who rely on Medicaid, All Kids and Medicare, or who have no insurance.
Officials estimated that more than 17 percent of the Coles County population is without health care: About 9,300 people use public aid, while more than 7,100 workers have no health insurance.
The clinic tentatively would be managed by the Community Health Improvement Center in Decatur, although the CCHP — comprising Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Center, Carle Foundation Physicians, the Coles County Health Department and other agencies — would continue to have input and oversight.
The CCHP is already about halfway toward its fundraising goal of $600,000 for startup costs. The clinic probably would share the grounds of the former Blaw-Knox Mattoon plant with the LifeLinks agency.
At least one part-time physician, two nurse practitioners or physician assistants and one registered nurse would staff the clinic. Officials said they hope to have the clinic up and running in less than two years.
The cost for a typical clinic visit to someone without health insurance likely would be in “the $10 range,” said Murray. The sliding fee would be based on federal poverty guidelines, he said.
The CCHP rose from an attempt in the late 1990s to establish an all-volunteer clinic with free services. While the initial venture failed, the number of uninsured residents continued to grow.
Cathie Reynolds, director of nursing at the health department, said the Illinois Plan for Local Assessment of Need in 2004 identified “the issue of accessibility to that primary care (as) one of the main issues” for Coles County.
So about three years ago, SBLHC and Carle personnel revived discussions about creating some kind of community clinic. The idea for completely free services was deemed not feasible, so officials instead began looking at establishing a “Federal Qualified Health Center.”
A FQHC “allows for enhanced reimbursements for public aid patients receiving primary care services, and expedited payment for public aid patients,” said Murray.
Rather than trying to whip up their own FQHC from scratch, the local health care and social service agencies turned to the Decatur agency, a well-established FQHC that also operates a clinic in Champaign.
This relationship has since evolved into what would effectively be a satellite facility in Coles County, said Barbara Dunn, executive director.
“It was an opportunity for us to expand our services to an area that is underserved,” she said.
Officials contended the creation of a community clinic is not intended simply to relieve other health care facilities of the burden of collecting often-delayed or reduced public aid payments from the state.
In fact, as facilities like SBLHC and Carle provide X-ray, laboratory and consultation services to clinic patients, “In the long run, it may cost the hospitals more,” said Matt White, CCHP secretary and manager of the Healthy Communities program at SBLHC.
While the clinic ultimately would be self-sustaining, Murray said the CCHP needs about $600,000 — half for renovating the clinic building itself, and the rest for six months of operating costs.
The group plans to visit civic organizations, clubs, churches and municipal governments in coming weeks.
For more information or to watch a video about the project, visit www.colescommunityclinic.org.
Officials noted that Lake Land College developed this Web site, while Eastern Illinois University helped with brochures and other materials.
Dr. Robert Good of Carle Foundation Physicians said the clinic also would help recruit more health providers to the area.
“And we believe the quality of care would improve,” he said, because patients who previously were treated only for immediate “episodic” needs in an emergency room instead would receive care for “chronic” needs at the clinic.
The emergency room “is not the place for them to go if they don’t have an emergency,” Good said.
Reynolds said the clinic also should help keep some residents from having to choose between basic needs and paying for health insurance premiums.
“I think we’re seeing more people who are faced with that dilemma,” she said.
Contact Nathaniel West at nwest@jg-tc.com or 238-6860.
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idclaire wrote on Sep 19, 2008 8:44 PM: