CUMBERLAND FAMILY MEDICAL CENTER
Grant: $161,457 - Health Resources and Services Administration - Mar. 20, 2009
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Award Description: We are addressing the need for health services within our service communities through a combination of tried-and-true methodologies. First of all, we are providing greater access through the hiring of two new nurse practitioners. These providers enable our clinics to handle a greater volume of patient encounters that only continues to increase as more and more jobs are lost to a downward trending economy. The addition of the providers as well allows us flexibility in scheduling so that our staff can work a number of hours that are reasonable while still ensuring that our patients who need services will indeed have been seen at the end of the day. All services we have available now continue to be available through the addition of these two new FTEs to both our insured and uninsured populations. Secondly, we make our providers available at times that are convenient for the patients in relation to their work hours and children's schools schedules. Our clinics are now open for the full day on Saturday and for extended evening hours during the work week. By extending our services beyond the regular work day and work week, those who are employed will not have to possibly endanger their employment status by taking a sick child to the doctor during the work day. Those families with limited transportation who rely on others to take them to the doctor can now make their appointment in the evenings after work hours or on Saturdays when transportation may be more readily available to them. The impact of the IDS project has resulted in an increased amount of patient volume and services to uninsured patients in addition to having an added impact in the creation of jobs. Along with the two FTE nurse practitioners who have been hired and are compensated directly through IDS funding, revenue from generated patient encounters has made it possible for our organization to hire addition support staff including two LPNs, two receptionists/clerks, and one biller to assist in our organization's expansion of services and increased out-reach efforts.
Project Description: Upon the hire of the two proposed FTE nurse practitioners, we immediately began to initiate extended hour services during the evenings through the work week as well as extended hours in the form of fully operational Saturday services. By creatively scheduling our providers throughout the week, evenings, and weekends, we hopefully ensure that burn out and retention problems among our providers will no longer be issues for our organization. Alternate schedules also provide for increased opportunities for our providers to enhance our outreach endeavors. This is being accomplished through home visits to those who have physical difficulty in traveling to our offices as well as through services provided at health fairs, schools, community centers, nursing homes, and other community outreach sites. By taking health care services into non-traditional areas of our community, we are extending access as well as availability to our patients whose health care needs are often unmet due to lack of transportation and lack of an adequate education in relation to the importance of preventive medicine, regular health checks, and screenings. Older residents as well as school age children are able to access our full range of services and receive care that greatly enhances their quality of life. In addition to the providers, we also have as part of our outreach program additional staff that assist patients in learning about the many programs available to them and introduce them our Sliding Fee Scale if they qualify.
Jobs Summary: As a result of the IDS funding, we directly created two (2) FTE positions for Nurse Practitioners. These positions are paid for directly from IDS funding. In order to support these two FTE positions, we additionally hired 4.5 FTE patient support staff. These positions include one (1) FTE LPN and one (1) FTE medical assistant, 1.5 FTE receptionists/clerks for front desk support, and one (1) FTE biller to accommodate the increase in paper work resulting form the additional patient encounters generated by the new Nurse Practitioners. The salaries of the 4.5 FTE support positions are paid out of project revenue generated as a result of the hiring of the IDS funded Nurse Practitioners. Only IDS funds are directly supporting the hire of the two (2) ARNPs. (Total jobs reported: 7)
Project Status: More than 50% Completed
This award's data was last updated on Mar. 20, 2009. Help expand these official descriptions using the wiki below.
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