Montgomery County Health Clinic

I spent all morning in board training for the Montgomery County Health Clinic. This was the last of nine training sessions we have had to prepare us as a board to plan for the clinic. Right now we are state funded but there is no guarantee that funding will be available from the state if the government here changes after the election. So we are considering applying to be a federally qualified health clinic or FQHC. If we can once get funded as that, we will be assured of continued funding of $625,000 per year. But there are some drawbacks to doing that too. For one thing, we now serve anyone who walks through the door regardless of their ability to pay. If we are a FQHC, we will also have to take Medicade and Medicare patients as well as those with insurance. That could make us as a felt threat to the doctors.

So before the first of the year, we will need to decide which direction we want to move. Our training is finished now but the real work is just beginning. Right now we are only open Thursday evenings from 3:00 until 9:00 and only in Independence. Our plan is to also open in Coffeyville and Neodesha. The first move is to also open Mondays and Fridays in Independence. After the first of the year, we want to open in Coffeyville. In 2010, we want to open in Neodesha.

We have a lot of planning to do before we go any further.