By Antoinette Grajeda
A visit to the doctor can be scary to begin with, but for patients without medical insurance, these trips can be even scarier. One way to help make the experience less complicated is through the assistance of health care clinics for low-income patients. One example of this type of health center in Northwest Arkansas is the Community Clinic.
Director of development Cambre Horne-Brooks said explaining the office is “a little bit complicated.” They are known as a federally qualified health center (FQHC), which means they “provide services regardless of ability to pay,” she said.
Medical care is made affordable by offering a sliding-fee discount based on a patient’s household size and income level. The clinic does ask for proof of income, so a patient must present a check stub or signed statement from an employer verifying earnings, or a previous year’s income tax return.
While government funding accounts for 18 percent of the budget and grants account for another part, the majority of the clinic’s income is from patient revenue. This self-sustaining organization offers a variety of medical services.
The clinics are staffed with about 100 employees, including full-time doctors and nurse practitioners.
“We’re a pretty large community health center,” Horne-Brooks said.
It may already be large, but the center is growing, too. There are already locations in Rogers and Springdale and a new clinic is scheduled to open in Siloam Springs by early summer.
Another option for Northwest Arkansas residents seeking health care is the Northwest Arkansas Free Health Center in Fayetteville. At this clinic, patients are only charged an administrative fee.
“We provide services free of charge,” executive director Monika Fischer-Massie said. “We ask patients to pay an administrative fee based on their household income, but it’s very minimal.”
Patients needing to provide proof of income at this clinic are selected at random and those with an income below poverty level pay nothing. At poverty level, the fee increases to $2.50 and from there it continues to $15 as long as a patient’s income is not more than 200 percent above the federal income poverty level.
“However, if they say, ‘Oh, we don’t have the money,’ We’ll say, ‘Well, that’s alright, just pay us next time,’” Fischer-Massie said.
The NWA Health Center does have a paid staff, but a large portion of its members are volunteers.
These workers provide dental care, diabetes education, physical therapy, gynecology and dermatology.
This health care center is not funded by grants, but through donations from individuals, corporations, civic organizations and foundations.
“Right now we know that there are about 80,000 people in the Northwest Arkansas area that are uninsured,” Horne-Brooks said.
Lack of insurance can have several negative results in addition to putting a dent in a person’s wallet.
“People without insurance are more likely to delay seeking care, more likely to be diagnosed at a later stage in their disease, more likely for them to have higher cost health care and more likely to die at a younger age,” Horne-Brooks said.
Northwest Arkansas residents’ concerns about health care began years ago. In 2002, The Northwest Arkansas Hometown Health Improvement Project initiated an effort to assess the health care needs of local residents. The Hometown Health Improvement Project joined in coalition with the Hometown Health Organizations in Benton, Carroll and Madison Counties to conduct the Four County Health Needs Assessment.
According to the assessment’s findings, Benton and Washington County survey respondents identified medical care costs, the availability of affordable health care insurance and money needed for prescriptions as the three main health care concerns which impact their community.
Breakout:
LOW-INCOME & FREE HEALTH CLINICS
Community Clinic (Rogers)
Location: 3710 Southern Hills Blvd.
Hours: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Friday
Information: 936-8600 or www.communityclinicnwa.org
Community Clinic (Springdale)
Location: 614 E. Emma Ave., Suite 300
Hours: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Friday
Information: 751-7417 or www.communityclinicnwa.org
Northwest Arkansas Free Health Center
Location: 10 S. College Ave., Fayetteville
Hours: 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays and Wednesdays; 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursdays;
8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Fridays
Information: 444-7548, www.nwafreehealthcenter.org or e-mail the director at mfischer@arkansasusa.com
FREE SCREENINGS
Arkansas Mission of Mercy
Location: Northwest Arkansas Convention Center, 1508 S. 48th St., Springdale
What: This two-day, free dental clinic is an Arkansas State Dental Association project. The clinic provides fillings and extractions to low-income and uninsured Arkansans.
Hours: Doors open at 7 a.m. May 8-9.
Information: 751-8300 or www.dental-asda.org
Free Asthma Screening
Location: Hedburg Allergy & Asthma Center, 700 S. 52nd St., Rogers
Hours: Noon to 2 p.m. May 16
Information: 464-8887 or www.hedburgallergy.com
