Health-care money may help community center

The Flathead Community Health Center and others across the country stand to benefit from $11 billion included in the new health-care reform legislation to expand access to primary care.

Wendy Doely, executive director the Flathead Community Health Center, said the center is waiting for details of the grant application process. She said the $11 billion nationally is programmed for five years of grants.

It’s expected to be a highly competitive process based on need with no set amounts apportioned to any state.

According to Doely, the community health center in Kalispell continues to add patients as people become aware of the facility.

The clinic offers sliding-scale discounts for primary medical and dental care to low-income people along with serving others in the population including those with Medicare, Medicaid and private insurance.

It first opened on a very limited basis in December 2007 but now provides a full spectrum of care in new space added to the Earl Bennett Building that houses the Flathead City-County Health Department at 1035 First Ave. West in Kalispell.

Doely said awareness has spread by word-of-mouth throughout the community.

“It’s a situation where a patient comes to the center then tells others that they saw great doctors and nurse practitioners,” she said.

Doely said the staff includes a dentist, dental hygienist, two family physicians and two nurse practitioners.

“The dentist has been overwhelmed,” she said.

Dental appointments are now booked about 10 to 12 weeks out.

According to Doely, the clinic plans to initiate a regular walk-in service for urgent dental care for two hours a day, three days a week, starting in mid-April. She said “urgent” refers to people who are in pain.

She identified dental care as a priority area that might qualify for assistance from the $11 billion included in the health-care reform bill. Doely said no one knows what the program will look like yet.

Mary Beth Frideres, associate director of the Montana Primary Care Association, said health-care reform legislation targets primary and preventive care as a way to reduce the cost of health care throughout the country.

Frideres said that works because primary care identifies and treats health problems early, reducing expensive hospitalization and specialist care.

“If a patient has a chronic condition, we want to manage the patient well,” she said.

Frideres agreed that no one knows yet what sorts of programs the $11 billion will fund. She anticipates that the dollars will go toward establishing new community health clinics and expanding services at existing centers such as the one in Kalispell.

“We’re going to need access for all the newly insured people,” she said.

Without more primary care providers by 2014 when the coverage mandate kicks in, the millions of newly insured may seek care at costly emergency rooms. Frideres said community health centers provide another option in addition to private clinics.

She said the reform legislation also expands the National Health Service Corps, a program that offers incentives such as loan repayments to physicians and other providers willing to work in areas such as rural towns with shortages of health-care providers.

Community health centers receive funding through the Health Resources and Services Administration under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The process for new grants begins with the administration posting guidance documents in the federal register.

Frideres said she has heard rumors that this may occur in the summer or fall, which would make grant money available in December or later.

“To be competitive, communities have to demonstrate a high level of need,” she said.

She said Montana has such need, with many low-income and uninsured people and people with poor insurance coverage with high deductibles and co-pays. Community health centers provide a viable option for these people.

“We’re taking care of 85,000 patients in Montana,” Frideres said. “They’ve been a great benefit.”

Community health centers provide discounts to people making up to 200 percent of the poverty level. As an example, a family of four making up to $44,100 could receive a 20 percent discount. A family of four making up to $22,050 would pay just minimum fees.

Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by e-mail at cchase@dailyinterlake.com.