Finance Fund » Healthcare

Solutions for Lack of Funding to FQHCs

James R. Klein — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 18:10:48 +0000

Health care is a constant struggle for many Americans, especially low-income individuals and families. The Columbus Dispatch’s August 9^th article “Area Health Centers Hit Hard by Federal Cuts” reported that federal spending reductions could cause 5 million people to be turned away from their current Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC). A National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) and Capital Link study found that the national need for capital between 2008 and 2015 exceeded $10.5 Billion. There is growing concern about the ability for FQHCs to continue to provide health care services in light of funding changes at the federal and state levels.

We are seeing Foundations, Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), and nonprofits responding to fill this market need. Kresge Foundation has released its program to enhance the capacity of FQHCs and the primary care system. IFF, an Illinois-based CDFI, announced a new initiative, Health Centers for Healthy Communities. What can we do in Ohio?

Finance Fund, in partnership with the Ohio Association of Community Health Centers, conducted a survey of the 37 FQHCs in Ohio. The survey queried organizations regarding their current need for new investment and the resulting increase in services these investments would generate.

88% planned some type of real estate investment
76% planned future equipment investment

Finance Fund invites you to join the conversation as we develop potential solutions to increase access to capital in Ohio’s low-income communities. Comment below or contact Finance Fund’s Director of Development, Valerie Heiby at vheiby@financefund.org or Special Project Consultant Mark Barbash at mbarbash@financefund.org for more information.

Zik’s Pharmacy Opens Wright Dunbar Location

James R. Klein — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 17:45:59 +0000

Last week, Finance Fund celebrated the opening of Zik’s Family Pharmacy in inner-city Dayton with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. Zik’s, located at 1130 W. Third St. in the Wright Dunbar Business District, is owned and operated by Nnodum Iheme, a Dayton-based pharmacist and entrepreneur. Finance Fund helped make this much needed local pharmacy a reality with $83,000 from its Finance Fund Capital Corporation lending arm.

Zik’s fills an important need by being the only neighborhood business that fills prescriptions and sells medical equipment. It will service several nearby physicians and medical centers. It also will serve as an important neighborhood employer, staffing up to 15 positions over the next two years.

Zik’s is housed in first-floor space owned by Wright Dunbar Inc., a nonprofit that works to revitalize the area’s business district.

Some of the media coverage for the opening included:

Dayton Daily News Print Edition

Dayton Daily News: Zik’s Pharmacy Ribbon Cutting

September 29. 2010

Dayton Daily News Online

September 29, 2010

http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/dayton-news/ziks-pharmacy-opens-wright-dunbar-location-951024.html

WKEF Channel 2 News

September 29, 2010

http://abc.daytonsnewssource.com/shared/newsroom/top_stories/videos/wkef_vid_4354.shtml

Lies and apathy (Naked again)

James R. Klein — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 16:20:48 +0000

We all come naked from the womb, but most of us do not stay that way. Yet again I am amazed at the rhetoric flying about the airwaves and the halls of congress concerning the Shangri-La or inferno of revamping the U.S. health care system. It’s not the topic that is disconcerting but how the opinion of the American public is so easily swayed by any titillating story, whether true or false, and how easily we are lured away for meaningful debate into the afternoon soap opera. My example is not taken to focus on any one point of view because the tactic is used by all sides of the issue.

On the radio show hosted by former Sen. Fred Thompson, New York lieutenant governor Betsy McCaughey stated that the House’s proposed health care bill contained a provision that would institute mandatory counseling sessions telling seniors how “to do what’s in society’s best interest…and cut your life short.” Citing page 425 of the bill, McCaughey claimed that “the Congress would make it mandatory … that every five years, people in Medicare have a required counseling session that will tell them how to end their life sooner, how to decline nutrition, how to decline being hydrated, how to go into hospice care … all to do what’s in society’s best interest … and cut your life short.”

Here’s what the bill says, “An explanation by the practitioner of the continuum of end-of-life services and supports available, including palliative care and hospice, and benefits for such services and supports that are available under this title.” The accepted definition of end-of-life planning means thinking ahead about the care you would like to receive at the end of your life – which may include the choice to reject extraordinary measures of life support, or the choice to embrace them. The section would require Medicare to pay for, not mandate, some end-of-life planning counseling sessions with a health care practitioner once every 5 years. It is clear that McCaughey’s distorted interpretation of the content of page 425 was offered not to stimulate debate but to frame an atmosphere of fear and mistrust.

Several television ads sponsored by Patients United Now claim that Canadian citizens survived serious illness only by leaving the country to get treatment in the U.S. because of the length of their wait for service in the Canadian health care system, claiming “Washington wants to bring Canadian-style health care to the U.S.” The reality is that no one is advocating for a government run health care system. The president and the leaders of both parties resound with the words of Sen. Max Baucus, Chair of Finance Committee, “single-payer (government run health care) is not going to get even to first base.” Yet the ads continue for what purpose? Not to stimulate debate but to frame an atmosphere of fear and mistrust.

There was a time in this country that I can remember when someone or some group publically making a misstatement or an outright lie, the journalistic community would stand up on their hind legs and demand accountability, and there was an American public that had not abdicated their role in the republic and given place to apathy believing everything we are fed. Naked again.