Catalyst group forms to discuss lack of affordable healthcare options for thousands of front line workers in the region.
A visit to Church Health Center in Memphis, Tennessee, inspired the group with its focus on meeting the healthcare needs of the working uninsured through community partnerships and affordable accessible care. The catalyst group sets about forming Faith Community Health, with a mission to provide, “access to affordable healthcare and promoting wellness of spirit, mind, and body for the underserved who live or work in our community.”
The group acquires the former Branson Elementary School as site for the Health Clinic for just $1.
March 20, after a major remodel of the school, the clinic opens its doors to the community offering comprehensive medical care at an affordable rate, based on patient income. Patients paid as little as $20 per visit. The medical dispensary opened weeks later. with a rate of $10 for a patient's monthly prescriptions.
Partnership with Ozark Family Vision Center, offering patients affordable vision testing and resources.
Skaggs Foundation begins supporting the work of Faith Community Health through its Legacy Grant.
Faith Community Health hosted over 4,000 patients. In 2016 the clinic dispensed over 13,000 prescriptions, the highest yet, creating the need for expansion of the medication room as well as increase in staffing to meet the needs of the patients. Grant funding makes mental health services possible. The Dispensary keeps growing, increasing the employee count in the clinic. A $10 service charge per month for patients, regardless of total medications, was started.
In an answer to the growing need of businesses to better care for their employees health, FaithCare was created. The employer based program offered affordable healthcare services for uninsured employees on a group basis. Employees pay $10 per visit.
To meet the growing demand, CoxHealth partnered with Faith Community Health to offer FaithCare members virtual Visits. Membership in FaithCare Tripled.
Faith Community Health Continues to expand its reach to the more than 10,000 underinsured and under-resourced in the region. By partnering with both major medical facilities in the area, Cox Health and Mercy Health Systems, as well as local and regional donors and grant funders, Faith Community Health is able to address the health needs of the region's front line workers. Through creative and thoughtful programming and services Faith Community Health has become the medical home for many in the community who might otherwise go without or carry heavy medical debt.