Aligning preventive health and/or primary care services under an in-house non-profit or the health department allows the health department to be more "private" or more "public" as services, funding, and local politics require. Gaston County Health Department established Gaston Family Health Services, Inc.(GFHS), the department's in-house non-profit, in 1992. The program has evolved into a four physician/two midlevel family practice clinic (FQHC look-alike) sharing staff and resources with the health department. GFHS also sponsors the health department's dental clinic which has been self-sufficient on medicaid and self-pay receipts since its 1996 inception. Recently, the health department, GFHS, and the local hospital's affiliated primary care practices formed another non-profit entity to oversee transition from case-managed fee-for-service medicaid to capitation. The new organization, Community Health Partners, Inc., has a 70% medicaid market share. The existence of GFHS has afforded the health department the flexibility to be responsive and viable in a changing healthcare market.
Learning Objectives: Participants in this session will be able to: Identify five program and policy advantages of using an in-house non-profit to provide select public health services. Explain how use of an in-house non-profit protects public accountability/governance while affording private flexibility. Describe how an in-house non-profit can assist a health department in becoming a viable provider in a medicaid managed care market
Keywords: Access to Care, Public/Private Partnerships
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.