Legislation earmarks $10.6M for expansion, relocation

Gov. Matt Blunt on May 29 visited the Springfield center’s 630 W. Kearney St. location to sign a budget bill that on July 1 will send $60 million to the state’s federally qualified health centers. That includes $10.6 million for the Springfield center to relocate and buy new equipment.

With the funding, the center will find a new home and consolidate its three current locations under one roof. The center’s three service areas – primary medical, dental and behavioral – are spread out at the Kearney Street site, 3000 E. Division St. and 618 N. Benton Ave.

Jordan Valley CHC Executive Director Brooks Miller said officials are scouting for a northwest Springfield site, but they aren’t sure whether they will buy an existing facility or build. The center’s three locations comprise about 30,000 square feet, and Miller said he is targeting 50,000 square feet at the new facility.

“We are just totally busting at the walls right now,” he said.

The cramped quarters have resulted from increased demand since Jordan Valley CHC opened in 2003, Miller said. Patient encounters have grown 30 percent this year compared to last year. The center sees about 15,000 patients a year, and each patient averages about three visits.

Miller calls the timeline for the center’s move aggressive, with plans to select a site by mid-summer, finalize a design by late fall and begin construction in early winter.

The new facility could add as many as 25 staff members to the approximately 90 there now, according to Miller.

Still not enough

The additional space and equipment will help the center meet its demand for services. But will it be enough?

“Absolutely not,” Miller said. “That is a bottomless well of need there that you’re trying to address. There’s just not enough resources to cover that whole population of uninsured (people).”

Miller points to rising costs of health care, coupled with a growing population, as reasons for increased need.

To help curtail the climbing number of uninsured, Missouri is preparing an overhaul of its Medicaid program that is devised to cut costs. Medicaid, which according to an April Senate news release currently services 825,000 Missourians and costs taxpayers $6 billion a year, is scheduled to sunset June 30, 2008.

MO HealthNet would establish home health centers at facilities such as Jordan Valley Community Health Center that would provide a health care advocate for every person enrolled in MO HealthNet. That advocate would serve as a patient’s home base for prevention and medical attention.

“Under the current system, patients don’t have one person or place that they can always count on,” said Senate Majority Floor Leader Charlie Shields, R–St. Joseph, the bill’s sponsor, in the release. “MO HealthNet gives them a health care advocate so they won’t end up in the emergency room when all they need is attention for a cold.”

The idea, Miller said, is to set people on a track to wellness and prevent illness, or catch it before it requires a trip to an emergency room or hospital. Cutting back on costly hospital services will have a positive impact on the overall cost of care, he said.

The Springfield center’s plan to consolidate its specialties at one facility falls in line with the mission of MO HealthNet, Miller said, because patients will receive care in all areas – dental, medical and behavioral – from a central location.

The Senate bill that would enact MO HealthNet was under Gov. Blunt’s review as of press time, and he has until July 14 to act on the legislation, according to Blunt spokeswoman Jessica Robinson.[[In-content Ad]]