The federal Health Resources Services Administration has granted St. Louis County clinics a designation that officials estimate will pump $6 million into the county’s coffers each year.
This week, HRSA gave the county’s three clinics status as federally qualified health center lookalikes. Such health centers offer primary medical and dental care to patients regardless of their insurance status and typically serve communities with limited health care access.
The designation has come after a yearslong application process to win the status for the county’s health centers in Berkeley, Sunset Hills and Pine Lawn. The Department of Public Health operates the clinics.
Those three clinics see approximately 7,000 patients annually, said St. Louis County Executive Sam Page, and most are uninsured or covered by Medicare or Medicaid.
“I think this is probably the most significant development in county government in a decade,” Page said. “If you understand our role in helping folks that are struggling, providing access to health care is a big part of that.”
The designation allows the federal government to reimburse the clinics for treating uninsured patients, explained county Health Director Kanika Cunningham. If the clinics provided dental care or other services to a person without insurance, they would lose money. Now, they can recoup that cost.
“Getting this designation is one way to help reimburse us for the care that we're doing,” she said. “So it's a positive thing for us because we were doing the work, we were not being compensated as such..”
Page said the ability to recoup some of the gap between expenses and revenue at the end of the year is unique to federally qualified health centers.
That could be vital for the clinics’ financial health if Republicans in Congress succeed in their efforts to cut Medicaid benefits, said the county’s Community Health Centers CEO Derek Melton.
FQHC lookalikes are also reimbursed at higher levels for treating Medicare and Medicaid patients and can receive discounts on drug pricing, which means cheaper medications for patients at the clinics, he said.
Melton said those savings will translate to residents receiving care more quickly.
The status also allows the county to participate in the federal National Health Service Corps, a program that reimburses students for university loans in exchange for working in communities with primary care provider shortages.
Patients have said there are long waits for immunizations and other services at the clinics. County health workers say that’s in part because they haven’t been able to recruit and retain staff to work at the health centers.
“I think patients will, within the course of a time, see that we are expanding services,” Melton said. “I also think that patients will see us being able to move at a little bit faster pace to be able to service the community needs.”
Officials have said they want to offer more mental health and addiction care, and provide more services to pregnant people and new mothers.
