A nonprofit clinic that opened in Everett earlier this year to serve Medicaid and Medicare patients and those without health insurance is getting $50,000 from the state.
The money, which was part of an overall supplemental state budget still needs final approval from Gov. Gary Locke, is coming from the state Health Care Authority to help with general clinic operations.
It was requested by state Rep. David Simpson, D-Everett. He said the money is important to helping "the essential work this clinic is providing for many families."
The Providence Everett Healthcare Clinic, at 1001 Broadway, opened in January. It is the newest nonprofit clinic in the county to provide medical care to patients without health insurance or those on the government-run medical programs of Medicaid and Medicare.
The two other area organizations that run nonprofit clinics are: Sea Mar in Marysville, and the Community Health Center of Snohomish County, with clinics in Everett and Lynnwood.
The Providence Everett Healthcare Clinic expects to see nearly 9,000 patients in its first year, a number that could reach 19,000 in four years.
During the initial weeks of its operation, the clinic is seeing far more uninsured patients than it expected, said Dr. Tony Roon, medical director for health care access.
"These people are the ones who haven’t been getting care, period," Roon said, adding that even those planning the clinic had underestimated the magnitude of area uninsured patients.
"It’s certainly going to impact the budget for the clinic," he said, even though patients are asked to pay for medical services on a scale based on their incomes.
The clinic was opened after women in a welfare-to-work class in 2002 told Roon that neither they nor their children could get regular medical care. Many area clinics were not accepting new Medicaid patients because the amount they are paid by the state does not cover the costs of caring for these patients.
Many area clinics are not accepting new Medicare patients, the federal program for those 65 and up, because of the same problem.
With no place else to get routine medical care, thousands of patients sought help for non-emergency care at Providence Everett Medical Center, which treated nearly 97,000 patients, or an average of 265 a day, last year.
Roon helped organize a community fund drive last year to open a new clinic, raising slightly more than $1 million in 10 months.
Reporter Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486 or salyer@heraldnet.com.
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