Erie Family Health Center

Can you say “rollercoaster?” 

Ok:  “Rollercoaster!”

Last week Governor Quinn announced $1.4 billion in cuts to the Fiscal Year 2011 (FY11) state operating budget.  These cuts and the rest of the budget went into effect July 1, 2010.   We now have a little more information on what this will mean to community health centers in our state, including the impact on Erie Family Health Center.

We could be talking a big impact here as community health centers in our state now serve over 1 million patients in Illinois.  A recent Perspectives article in the New England Journal of Medicine notes that 7.6% of Illinois residents receive their health care from a community health center like Erie (tops is West Virginia, 19.1%, bottoms are Minnesota and Virginia, 2.9%).

Before we get to the state’s FY11 budget, it’s important to note that there is still unfinished business from FY10.

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When George received the call from veteran Erie nurse practitioner Ann McCormick that the cost for his insulin prescription was about to go from $330 for a three month supply to less than $20, he was thrilled. He lacks health insurance and his work schedule does not allow him time to travel all the way to Stroger Hospital of Cook County to stand in long lines in hopes of receiving discounted medications.

“This really means so much to him not to have to pay so much,” McCormick explained.  “George uses about 2 bottles of insulin per month and he was paying retail prices of about $55 per bottle at a large chain pharmacy.” 

George is one of the first Erie patients to take advantage of the new 340B discounted pharmacy services which Erie is offering in partnership with Pharmacy One, a local pharmacy right next door to Erie Helping Hands.

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With all the buzz about health care reform, the curious are asking: What does the new law mean for community health centers like Erie?  Some even wonder if the need for community health centers will vanish. In honor of National Public Health Week, Beats Per Minute is breaking down the ins and outs of health care reform and what it will mean for community health centers around the country.

Millions more to seek primary care by 2014

With the ink of President Obama’s signature barely dry on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, a transformation is about to happen over the next decade.  For the first time in our country’s history, there will be a major effort to make health insurance available to almost all Americans – nearly 32 million will be added to the health insurance rolls. 

Most community health centers like Erie care for high volumes of patients without insurance (34% at Erie) or covered by Medicaid (62% at Erie). Medicaid is the federal-state partnership to provide health care coverage for those living at the federal poverty level or below.  Starting in 2014, some 16 million more people  will become eligible for Medicaid as the income limits to qualify are raised from 100% of the federal poverty level (about $22,000 per year for a family of 4) to 133% of the federal poverty level (about $30,000 per year for a family of 4). 

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For many, it feels like the flu has gone away. Away from the headlines on TV, the web, radio.  Away from the ERs and health clinics.  After H1N1 influenza ravished an unprepared America in the late spring 2009, and again in the fall and early winter, it has basically disappeared.  But should we let down our guard and stop worrying?

It’s true that most areas of the country are reporting either no or only sporadic (Illinois) flu activity. The most activity is in the South and in Maine.  All of it is well below epidemic levels and it’s all H1N1, not other strains of flu virus that we sometimes call the “seasonal flu.”

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Would you pay $1.94 per day in health insurance for the privilege of unlimited access to comprehensive preventive and primary care services at the level of quality provided by Erie Family Health Center?  It sounds like a pretty good deal.

They way I look at it, the health care “pie” is divided into three slices.  The first slice is primary and preventive care like Erie provides, a good deal as you’ll read about below.  The second is both basic and sophisticated outpatient testing such as x-rays, mammograms, CT scans and MRIs, to which Erie arranges affordable and deeply discounted linkages with partners.  The third is the most expensive—hospitalization, surgery, rehabilitation—and Erie provides linkages as well.  And I’m not even going to touch the issue of long term care (a whole other pie).

Health care reform pie is on a lifeline in Washington, DC, and cost is of high concern.  Meanwhile, around the country, at over 1,200 health centers like Erie, data staffers hit the send button this week and uploaded information for 2009 on the 20 million medically disadvantaged people cared for at community health centers.  The fix is in, and the data show that health centers provide very cost effective primary care and preventive services. 

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In a bold step that will help shape the future of health care in Chicago, Erie’s board of directors has approved the launch of a community-based training program for family medicine physicians!

With partners Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and Norwegian American Hospital, the program will accept its first class of eight resident physicians in July 2010.  By July 2013, twenty-four residents will be in training, completing their out-patient clinical duties at Erie Family Health Center and their inpatient training at Norwegian. These residents will also have access to specialty rotations at other hospitals, including Children’s Memorial Hospital and Northwestern Memorial Hospitals. This program is unique in that students will complete a high quality training program that is university affiliated but based within the underserved communities of Chicago.

The needs of community-based health care are changing and a new generation of high quality, exquisitely trained family physicians are needed for the medically underserved.  I like to call it training the next generation of “urban combat” primary care physicians who will choose to build their practices in the same neighborhoods in which they trained. 

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If Congress passes a health care reform bill 30 million more Americans may end up with a health insurance card in their pocket.  That’s a big step towards covering the total uninsured count, estimated at 46 million.  But what will that mean for community health centers like Erie?  If so many more people have insurance, will the need for safety-net care providers vanish?

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Welcome to Beats Per Minute!

Welcome to Erie Family Health Center’s brand new blog, Beats Per Minute! We are thrilled to embark on this journey in social media, building upon our other sources of new media, such as Twitter and Facebook. As one of the few community health centers in the nation to launch a blog, Beats Per Minute will provide you with news, resources and information on areas of interest impacting Erie and our community.

You can visit Beats Per Minute frequently to receive up to date news about Erie, community based health care and the fragile safety-net. Whether you’re interested in learning about new Erie events or reading about the latest research on care for the uninsured, Beats Per Minute is the place to be! Erie hopes that through these posts we can share with you – the reader and Erie friend – information about Erie Family Health Center and all the news that affects the populations we serve.

You can even tune in every Wednesday afternoon for our Health Beats segment, which will bring you the top five health stories of the week!

Beats Per Minute will be updated by a team of bloggers from within Erie: you can learn more about our writers, Ginny, Jaclyn and Steph by clicking on About Us. You can also look forward to reading posts by Erie medical providers and support staff.

Don’t be overwhelmed by the amount of digital information blanketing the blogosphere. Beats Per Minute is your safety zone for focused and innovative thinking about community based health care delivery, cutting edge health care news and clear explanations in the setting of challenging times.  Won’t you join us?