Alaska News

Health care center a good use of state funds

Hidden in a residential area of Fairview is a gem -- a community health center (CHC) that has provided high quality medical and dental care for thousands of Anchorage families since 1971. It is a place where seniors with Medicare are accepted, where patients without insurance, or who cannot afford the coverage they have, are welcome.

Anchorage Neighborhood Health Center is our community's health and dental care "safety net." And, it needs the governor's support of a $9 million dollar appropriation in this year's capital budget to expand in response to the growth of patients needing care.

Launched in 1965 by the Office of Economic Opportunity as a component of President Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty, the very first community health centers were designed to reduce or eliminate health disparities that affected racial and ethnic minority groups, the poor, and the uninsured. The CHCs were to constitute a key component of the national public safety net, focused on the care of individual patients and on the health status of their overall target populations.

The health center is a private, not-for-profit organization governed by a volunteer board of directors made up of patients and community leaders who oversee the finances and operations of the business. Of the $10.5 million dollar budget, thirty eight percent of the funding received by the health center is from the federal government to discount fees for low-income individuals and the balance of revenues are from billing insurances such as Medicaid, Medicare, and private insurance, and fundraising.

Over the years, the health center has added lab and x-ray services, an in-house pharmacy and case management services for our patients due to fact that patients who were uninsured could not access outside services. Community health centers across the country are experiencing a huge influx of patients due to the shortage of primary care physicians and dentists and the decreasing reimbursement for under-insured patients. Even though access to primary care for Medicare patients is at a critical point for Anchorage, this is a nationwide problem.

So you are probably wondering why any of this matters to you. It matters because this community needs expanded access to medical care. The health center has been planning an expansion for eight years and we have raised $13 million in order to expand and grow. We purchased land in Midtown to accommodate the growing need for services and we have a $ 9 million dollar request in the state capital budget that will complete the construction.

Gov. Sean Parnell is under immense pressure to trim the capital budget due to claims from his opponents that he needs to demonstrate fiscal conservatism and veto many capital requests. We believe that preventive health care is a good use of government funds to keep individuals healthy and productive.

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Some people believe that community health centers are the "provider of last resort." I believe that the care we provide people is quality care and we are the "providers of first choice." We are a large primary care practice that does not discriminate based on the ability to pay and we provide accessible and affordable care to all who enter our doors.

Joan Fisher is executive director of the Anchorage Neighborhood Health Center.

By JOAN FISHER

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