Hospital board meets about grant

The Mineral Community Hospital board of directors and members of the Mineral Regional Health Center board met jointly last week to discuss the community health center and to discuss where they were with the application of the New Access Point grant, whose funds are made available by the Affordable Care Act, will be awarded by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).

A new access point is a new full-time service delivery site that provides comprehensive primary and preventive health care services.  New access points improve the health status and decrease health disparities of the medically underserved populations to be served.

“These funds reflect the Administration’s steadfast commitment to improving and expanding access to vital primary health care services,” said U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. “From our cities to our smallest towns, each health center has an important role to play, ensuring access to services in its community. Together they have a critical impact on the health care status of those most in need across the nation.”

George Bailey began by discussing where they were with the grant application. He said that they talked quite a bit about the process when the Montana Primary Care Association (MPCA) visited with them.

“They remarked that we had a wonderful board whose people have shown dedication and willingness to make something happen,” Bailey said.

Bailey said that the association would be stepping forward and writing a letter of support. He said that the grant is coming along well and will be submitted in time for the deadline, which is Dec. 15, only a week away.

“We’re expecting to submit it somewhere around the tenth of December,” Bailey said. “We’re generating letters of support, our budget narrative is complete and we’re looking at next week to polish it.”

Bailey said that there is roughly around 1,000 applicants and that 350 awards will be named. Hospital administrator Steve Carty mentioned that there has been a lot of interest in the grant. He said that the MPCA believes that they are in a great location and that it is a good project.

In the recent Oct. 27 meeting, board members received training from Mary Beth Frideres and Marge Levine of MPCA. Frideres explained the community health care systems offer many benefits to the communities they serve and are endorsed by both sides of the aisle in the U.S. Congress. The board believes that the prospect of being funded is good considering the historic issues of poverty in Mineral County where nearly half of the populace is considered below 200 percent of poverty and unemployment is estimated at nearly 10 percent.

Bailey said that applying for the grant has not been an easy process and that it is a good thing they started working on it a year ago. The hospital is looking at potentially receiving up to $650,000 in funding.

“We have to show that there is a need for assistance here,” Bailey said.

The goal of the health center is to act as a conduit catch all sorts of item not limited to primary medical, but mental health and dental. He said that the goal is not to work in competition with others in the area, but to work seamlessly with other entities to provide the best possible service to patients.

“Are we going to solve problems everybody’s problems? No, that’s impossible, but we will we be able to serve more people? Yes,” he said.

There are several benefits to having a community health center and they include improving access to primary/preventative care, effectively manage chronic illness, providing cost-effective care to patients and providing a high quality of care.

Deb Davis-Quitt was curious to know what it would like on the ground, what it would mean for the patients if they are selected to receive the grant.

Bailey said that once they receive the grant, they have 120 days to implement their program which would mean increased level of service, more providers, more physician’s assistants and more case workers.  Carty added that it wouldn’t be seen right away, but things would slowly move toward that direction. The funds will not be used to build the new hospital.

Holly Blaylock, Tamarack Clinic Manager, added that they would continue with a lot of the same services and would focus on letting people know what they are doing. She said they would be getting more patients in the door and that a sliding fee scale, which would also be implemented, would help them to get services.

“It would also free up providers time to do more screening for things such as hypertension and diabetes,” Blaylock said. “We would try to make sure every child between certain ages had all the necessary immunizations.”

Nursing director Kirsten Locke added that the grant would mean implementing new ideas that would have better outcomes for patients. She noted that they would be looking at whether or not there was an impact on the quality of health and taking measurements. Blaylock added that having an electronic medical record system would be one way of measuring that otherwise, you’re sitting down with a pile of charts to look at those items.

Carty added that there were still a lot of things to be finished before the grant was completed and that included items of new business. First up, was appointing individuals to hold seats on the board of the Mineral Regional Health Center.

Amy Farris was appointed as the board’s chair and Jim DeBree was appointed as the board’s vice chair. Deb Davis-Quitt was selected as the board’s treasurer. Next up, the board needed to approve the policies and procedures that were required for the grant. Bailey said that the policies and procedures were taken from other health centers and said that they would have the option to revise them as they moved forward, but noted they meet the requirements of the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). Blaylock noted that a majority of them were in place at the hospital already.

“We’re beholding unequivocally to the community and how we understand these things is important,” Roger Brown said. “We need to know what we’re doing…I don’t think we’re taking this lightly and I believe we know what we’re doing.”

Without having read the policies, the board approved them noting that they would become familiar with them and revise any they thought were in need of it.

The board also approved the sliding fee scale model that was presented. Blaylock described it as a very basic sliding scale, noting that scales are generally based on the federal poverty guidelines and updated every time the federal guidelines are updated.

She said it would be important the clinic’s and the hospital’s scale matched so patients wouldn’t have to deal with two scales. No one can be refused care by community health care centers if it receives federal funding, Frideres said, but patients are expected to pay a portion of their bill on a sliding fee scale

Finally, the board approved the submission of the grant. Tom Hodgetts, director of the Western Montana Mental Health Center, said at the end of the meeting that he was pleased with the collaboration that the two entities have, noting that “it’s been wonderful o work with this hospital.” He said that he would also be willing to write a letter of support.

Bailey reiterated that when they work seamlessly together the patients get the care they need. The hospital board meetings and the community health center board meetings will run back to back, beginning at noon on the fourth Thursday of the month.

The mission of the Mineral Regional Health Center reads: we provide access to quality comprehensive health services for all. The shared vision reads: MRHC will be the premier model for affordable, efficient, patient focused health care services in our region. We will be your home for wellness, preventative and primary care. We will work with our community to address all health needs. We will develop educational opportunities through community and regional partnerships.

It will take almost a year before the board will receive word on whether the grant proposal is accepted or not, but they plan to continue to hold monthly meetings leading up to the announcement. Health care centers make it easier for small, rural communities to attract full-time and part-time physicians and specialists as well and funding for the approved health care centers comes annually from the federal budget as long as the center complies with the strict rules and regulations that are imposed.