MPCA News

Montana Community Health Centers (CHCs) Awarded Over $880,000 in New Primary Health Care Grants!

On July 18, 2002, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Tommy Thompson announced a grant of $405,833 to Yellowstone City/County Health Department to increase access to health care services through RiverStone Health.

The busy front desk at RiverStone Health, Billings, MT.

Expanding Community Health Centers (CHCs) is a key element of the Bush administration’s plan to increase access to care for the nation’s medically underserved individuals. This grant, from the Expanded Medical Capacity Initiative, is intended to expand primary health care services by increasing a health center’s ability to serve more people and improve their health status. “Today’s awards represent a major leap forward in Presidents Bush’s plan to increase the number of people served at health centers from about 11 million now to over 16 million by 2006,” Secretary Thompson said, “Nearly a half million Americans are expected to benefit from these awards through greater access to comprehensive primary and preventive health services.”

Lil Anderson, Executive Director of the RiverStone Health CHC said, “The grant will help us serve an additional 4,500 patients. These federal dollars will allow our health center to hire more medical providers, which will shorten the current four-week wait for an appointment.”

In another release, Secretary Thompson announced grants to 4 other Montana CHCs to expand and improve their services. Butte Community Health Center, and Community Health Partners, a CHC serving the Livingston and Bozeman areas, received grants of $100,000 and $103,800, respectively, to expand the availability of mental health and substance abuse treatment services.

Michelle Miller, Director of Mental Health Services at the Butte CHC explained that they are currently providing services through a Rural Health Outreach grant that ends this year. They are happy to be able to continue and expand those services, with children and the elderly as their target populations. Michelle estimates they will be able to provide 2,000 mental health visits a year with the funds. In addition, they are hoping to have a psychiatrist provide training for their primary care medical providers who have been managing a growing number of mental health patients in the clinic as there are no psychiatrists in the Butte area.

Ted Madden, CFO for Community Health Partners, described a similar situation, “This mental health services grant will be targeted to cover a therapist and case managers for both Gallatin and Park counties. Another area of focus will be to secure some psychiatrist access. Since the mental health provider pulled psychiatric care out of Park County, access here is non-existent.”

Community Health Partner’s unique “storefront” clinic on Main Street in Livingston, MT.

Cascade City/County Health Department, home of the Great Falls Community Health Clinic, received a $177,520 grant to provide dental care to patients in their service area. “Unmet dental health care needs have reached a crisis level in Cascade County and this money will go a long way toward helping alleviate the situation.” said Cherry Loney, Executive Director of the CHC in Great Falls, “We are looking forward to adding dental staff and providing increased care.”

Partnership Health Center (PHC) in Missoula received a $100,000 grant for dental care, as well. There, the waiting list for dental care is over 2,200. Dr. Ryan Huckeby, PHC’s staff dentist, is excited to have the opportunity to serve more people in the clinic, "Many of the people I see here haven't been to a dentist in 10, 15, 20 years, if ever. Kids come in with incredible decay and infections. It's important that we be able to provide care to more people." Even with the additional funds, PHC will continue to rely heavily on dental volunteers from the Missoula community. Over 40 dental professionals (including dental assistants and hygienists) volunteer their time to support Partnership Health Center dental patients. Dental offices and suppliers also regularly donate items to help PHC serve patients who cannot afford to pay the full cost of dental care.

Cheri Seed, Oral Health Consultant for the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services, congratulated the health centers, “Federal funding for oral health is imperative if we are to be able to make a difference. Thanks to HHS for making this a reality for Montana.”

Together, the 5 grant awards total $887,153 in new money for primary health care in Montana. All of the grants are on-going, the money added annually to each health center’s base grant. The funds will enable Montana’s CHCs to add professional staff, increase the number of available appointments, and increase the number of people who can be served. CHCs care for their patients on an “ability to pay” basis using a sliding fee scale. This allows families and individuals with lower incomes and uninsured Montanans to have access to primary medical, dental, and mental health care. Community Health Centers have become an important “safety net” for economically stressed Montana residents.

Montana Health Center Access Sites These grants are part of the Consolidated Health Center Program which funds a national network of more than 3,300 clinics that serve approximately 11 million low income patients. Community Health Centers (CHCs) are the largest component of the program which also supports Migrant Health Centers, Healthcare for the Homeless Centers, Public Housing Primary Care Centers, and School-based Health Centers. This map shows care delivery sites of Montana’s Community and Migrant Health Centers and Healthcare for the Homeless Program. (Montana currently has no Public Housing Primary Care Centers or School-based Health Centers funded through the Consolidated Health Center Program.)

MPCA would like to extend the thanks of our members to Senators Conrad Burns and Max Baucus and Representative Dennis Rehberg for their continuing support of Community Health Centers and for their assistance in legislating the resources needed to serve more Montanans. We would also like to thank the excellent staff and administrators of Montana’s CHCs for their outstanding success in bringing much needed primary health care dollars into the state. Well done!