Summit Community Care Clinic in Frisco, Colo., is looking at cutting services to stay afloat, according to a Summit Daily report.
The federally qualified health center is the only safety-net clinic in Summit County. As such, it has seen growing expenses amid an increasing the number of patients —specifically, those who are uninsured, according to the report. In April, nearly 68 percent of the clinic's patients were uninsured, compared to 58 percent during the 2014-2015 fiscal year. This increase in uninsured patients, the report notes, comes as four of the region’s other rural health clinics acting as safety nets in Gilpin, Park, Chaffee and Lake counties have closed in the last two years.
The clinic has an annual budget of more than $7 million, a majority of which must be raised primarily through state and federal grants, private foundations and individual donors. However, its budget isn't big enough to support the influx of uninsured patients, and the clinic may be forced to cut certain healthcare offerings, according to the report.
"As each month passes, those (uninsured) numbers tick up again, and it's just loss after loss after we can't continue to absorb," the clinic's CEO, Sarah Vaine, told the Summit Daily. "My fear is that — and it's really more than a fear — if we project out even sustained if not greater losses due to...increased premiums in 2017, it's not sustainable. What I'm trying to do is let people in the community know that we are starting to look at those things."
One of those things, she told the publication, could be getting rid of behavioral health services at the one-stop shop clinic. According to the report, the organization would start by reducing or removing that sphere altogether because they are non-revenue generating and also not required to maintain their federal designation.
If the clinic needs to cut any deeper, it would, for the very time, look at either creating a wait list or laying off employees due to the budget constraints — perhaps both, according to the report. Loans may also be a temporary solution.
For now, Ms. Vaine, in her interview with the Summit Daily, asks that the insured take a second look at the clinic for their care to help offset the costs of those who can't pay. She told the publication she also plans to once again ask local businesses and benefactors for contributions before she leaves her post in July to become assistant county manager to the Summit County Board of County Commissioners.
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