out of the hospitals.”
these newly insured patients.”
While the new building at 834 East Broadway is only two doors
down from the previous location, the larger capacity is set to allow
a diversity of services and expanded primary care. The new center
will include 25 exam rooms, up from 13, as well as mental and
behavioral health services.
The reduction of uninsured patients allows FHC to recover from
what had become an operating deficit and worry less about long
term viability. Wagner continued, “Now we have more confidence.
We can become more competitive and hire more staff. Really, this
helps us become the real patient centered medical home we’ve
wanted to be.”
The building’s first floor will house an urgent care facility, an inhouse pharmacy, referral staff and Kynect/Medicaid connectors. The
second floor will host the main adult clinic followed by pediatrics
and women’s services on the third. FHC also can utilize a fourth floor
for specialty services still to be determined with options including
ophthalmology, radiology and many others.
“We’re extremely excited about our potential to serve patients
across a wide spectrum,” said Communications and Planning Coordinator Melissa Mather, MPH. “We’ll be able to provide mental
health services for patients who might have common illnesses such
as anxiety and depression. We have the ability to not only provide
medication, but we can also provide supportive and cognitive therapy with a social worker.”
The center is optimistic patients will utilize these services more
frequently because they’re all housed in the same location. “If need
be, there’s a warm handoff to a specialist or social worker right there
in the exam room. There’s no stigma of going to a separate health
center,” said Mather.
FHCs serve a large portion of Louisville’s immigrant and refugee
population, with approximately 20 percent of patient families speaking limited or no English. “Our goal is to provide access regardless
of income, race, ethnicity, language or housing situation. That’s what
the community health center is all about,” said Wagner.
Once the building is completed, Louisville Metro EMS will be
putting their command center on the top floor with the operations
center in the building next door, allowing an organic partnership
between the two organizations.
“Often times, they’ll get a 911 call and it may just be someone
who wants a ride to the hospital because they ran out of diabetes
medication. The patient doesn’t really need to go to the ER. So, we’re
working on a system where EMS can bring them to us or another
primary care provider instead,” said Wagner.
The FHC’s building expansion was made possible in large part by
the Affordable Care Act, which provided the organization with a $5
million grant for expansion. FHC is funding more than $1 million
on top of the grant to provide for capital expenses through reserves
and fundraising efforts. However, the ACA didn’t just help with the
expansion grant. It also helped decrease the number of uninsured
patients seen by the health centers. Prior to the passage of the ACA,
more than 50 percent of FHC patients were uninsured.
As insurance allows a wider range of FHC services, preventive
health can play a much bigger role within the facility. Prenatal care,
child safety, smoking cessation, diabetes management, even cooking
classes are all planned for the health center, available either for free
or a nominal cost.
“We want patients to invest in their own health, and these opportunities will give them the tools they need to be healthy,” said Mather.
Wagner explained that one of the most notable hurdles faced
by FHC was the lack of name recognition with the general public.
People, even physicians, are more likely to know FHC only as the
Portland Clinic. “That’s kind of how we’re known, but they don’t
know us as the Family Health Center organization that has seven
locations. We think this facility will change that.”
With the expansion imminent, FHC hopes to attract more physic