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Tester Visits Burgeoning Health Clinic
FCHC became a federally funded community health center in 2009
U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, center, talks with Wendy Doely, left, and Chris Holdhusen, right, while touring the Flathead Community Health Center in Kalispell. - Lido Vizzutti | Flathead Beacon
Montana’s U.S. Sen. Jon Tester visited the Flathead Community Health Center this week, and learned that the facility is bursting at the seams with patients, two-thirds of who are uninsured.
“We’re about as big as we can be,” Wendy Doely, executive director at FCHC, told Tester. “We’ve had significant growth.”
The FCHC became a federally funded community health center in March 2009, and that year served over 3,400 clients. In 2011, the health center served 8,031 patients with over 18,420 visits.
According to FCHC, 66 percent of those patients are uninsured, and 67 percent have incomes below the federal poverty level.
There is opportunity for the FCHC to expand further into the third floor of the Earl Bennett Building, Doely told Tester. And space isn’t the only expansion needed within the health center, she said.
The center’s clientele need access to mental health and behavioral services, Doely said, and the health center would benefit greatly if it were able to attract mental health professionals with an offer to pay back student loans.
Tester also discussed the potential impacts of the upcoming 2013 Legislature, where state lawmakers may decide to opt out of the Affordable Healthcare Act’s Medicaid expansion, as Texas did in July.
Doely said the health center depends greatly on Medicaid payments for its uninsured patients. Tester also said the Medicaid and health insurance forms need to be streamlined so places like FCHC spend less time processing them.
The clinic faced closure in early 2011, during a federal budget showdown between Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Democratic majority in the U.S. Senate. The funds were secured later that year, allowing the clinic to stay open for the foreseeable future.
During his visit to the health center, Tester met with health services staff, including those in the medical and dental facilities. Tester is currently running for re-election against U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg.
“We’re about as big as we can be,” Wendy Doely, executive director at FCHC, told Tester. “We’ve had significant growth.”
The FCHC became a federally funded community health center in March 2009, and that year served over 3,400 clients. In 2011, the health center served 8,031 patients with over 18,420 visits.
There is opportunity for the FCHC to expand further into the third floor of the Earl Bennett Building, Doely told Tester. And space isn’t the only expansion needed within the health center, she said.
The center’s clientele need access to mental health and behavioral services, Doely said, and the health center would benefit greatly if it were able to attract mental health professionals with an offer to pay back student loans.
Tester also discussed the potential impacts of the upcoming 2013 Legislature, where state lawmakers may decide to opt out of the Affordable Healthcare Act’s Medicaid expansion, as Texas did in July.
Doely said the health center depends greatly on Medicaid payments for its uninsured patients. Tester also said the Medicaid and health insurance forms need to be streamlined so places like FCHC spend less time processing them.
The clinic faced closure in early 2011, during a federal budget showdown between Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Democratic majority in the U.S. Senate. The funds were secured later that year, allowing the clinic to stay open for the foreseeable future.
During his visit to the health center, Tester met with health services staff, including those in the medical and dental facilities. Tester is currently running for re-election against U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg.
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