Clinic to help needy patients
Published 9:00 pm Sunday, November 30, 2003
A new clinic that will provide a medical home for the tens of thousands of people in Snohomish County who have been shut out of medical care — those who are poor, elderly or don’t have medical insurance — will open next month in Everett.
Providence Everett Healthcare Clinic in the College Plaza Shopping Center will open Jan. 19.
The location was chosen in part because of easy access; people can take a bus there. It is surrounded by low-income and senior housing and near Everett Community College and the state Department of Social and Health Services offices.
"The idea is as much care for as many people as possible," said Dr. Tony Roon, who, with outgoing County Executive Bob Drewel proposed the new clinic in March.
The new 3,400-square-foot clinic will have eight exam rooms, computers in the waiting area where patients can read about common medical conditions, a waiting room for parents with children and a classroom so patients can learn more about their medical conditions.
The clinic is expected to serve 8,000 patients its first year. That could nearly triple in following years.
Among the services it will provide: Well-baby checks, physicals and treatment of chronic conditions such as high blood pressure and asthma.
More than 300 people donated to the fund drive that allowed the clinic to open, with contributions totaling $848,352.
"What they’ve been able to do, to boot-strap this up, is really impressive," said Greg Vigdor, president of the Washington Health Foundation.
The clinic’s first-year budget is $556,000, and it’s projected to lose $115,000.
"People don’t understand what it costs to provide health care," Roon said.
Patients will be treated by a four-member staff of physician assistants or nurse practitioners.
"For the foreseeable future, we’ll have same-day service" for anyone seeking medical appointments, Roon said.
Appointment costs will depend on a person’s income.
"If they have no insurance, they would get a discount," Roon said.
For example, a family of three making $43,000 a year would be asked to pay $20 per visit. Patients will be asked for the money at their appointment, to avoid billing and adding to clinic costs, Roon said.
The idea for the clinic grew out of a project by a WorkFirst class in Monroe. A group of Medicaid patients documented how neither they nor their children could get health care.
In one case, a woman detailed how her son’s eardrum ruptured from an untreated ear infection. Their stories were published in The Herald in June 2002.
Last year, DSHS officials said Snohomish County was one of the three worst counties in the state for access to medical care by Medicaid patients. In August, DSHS officials said that of the 76,918 children and adults on Medicaid in the county, only 12,375 have guaranteed access to a doctor.
Many clinics in the county have closed their doors to new Medicare and Medicaid patients, saying money paid by the government to care for those patients didn’t cover their costs.
Two long-established Everett clinics went out of business: Everett’s Obstetrics and Gynecology Consultants in March 2002 and the Everett Family Practice Center in November 2001.
With no where else to go, many Medicaid, Medicare and uninsured patients sought health care at Providence Everett Medical Center’s emergency room, one of the factors that helped rank it as the state’s busiest last year.
During a recent tour to check on the new center’s progress, Roon reflected on the meeting with the WorkFirst women in Monroe.
"Eighteen months to get here," he said, smiling as he walked out the clinic’s back door. "Not bad."
Reporter Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486 or salyer@heraldnet.com.
