OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma is being left behind in the growth of federally supported medical clinics for low-income patients.
Community Health Centers, also known as Federally Qualified Health Centers, must be in “medically underserved” areas or cater to underserved populations. Nationally 39 percent of their patients in 2007 were uninsured; 35 percent were on Medicaid. The centers charge patients on a sliding scale and offers deeply discounted prescriptions. Nationally they serve more than 15 million people.
As of January, Oklahoma had 13 providers offering services to more than 100,000 people at 26 sites, according to the Oklahoma Primary Care Association.Expansion of the centers was one of 10 recommendations from last fall’s Oklahoma Insurance Department summit on health insurance costs.
Lou Carmichael, CEO of executive director of Oklahoma Community Health Services, a center that operates in Oklahoma City, Tipton and Fort Cobb, said “integrated” medical, dental and behavioral care improves people’s well-being overall.
“Any of the three are important, but all of them together have huge potential to improve outcomes, reduce costs and increase quality of life for the person and community,” Carmichael said. “Without health education, prevention and access to primary care, we are headed down a road that we cannot afford and that will not provide the way to a healthier community.”
Community Health Centers also decrease the burden on the health care system by offering value for patients and the state, Carmichael said.
“If we put effort into increasing access to care for all people regardless of their ability to pay, we would take big steps toward lowering costs of chronic care and increasing the changes of people getting well,” Carmichael continued, explaining that the number of uninsured makes it a good time to build a better safety net through such centers.
“As the guy in (the movie) ‘Jaws’ said when he saw the great white shark: “‘We’re gonna need a bigger boat,’” Carmichael said.
The Oklahoma Foundation for Consumer & Patient Rights has worked to educate the insured, uninsured and underinsured alike. Access to affordable, quality health care is a right, not a privilege.
“These clinics are a cost-effective way to reduce disparities and give people a medical home,” said Jeff Raymond, executive director of the nonprofit advocacy group. “We feel disparities and health care costs are inseparable, and any effort that impacts them both is a step in the right direction. Oklahoma needs more Community Health Centers.”
