MASON — One of Ingham County’s 13 community health centers will close and about 15 of its employees will be laid off by the end of the month, the Ingham County Community Health Centers Board of Directors decided Thursday to reduce a $4 million deficit.
Services offered at New Hope Community Health Center, 430 N. Larch St., are provided by Forest Community Health Center, 2316 S. Cedar St., and Allen Community Health Center, 1601 E. Kalamazoo St., of Ingham County.
During a heated three-and-a-half-hour meeting, board members said closing the clinic would reduce the deficit to about $3 million. The board plans to continue discussions as the fiscal year winds down, ending in late September.
“It’s a challenge because part of this plan involves layoffs, and you know every person here and their contribution is valuable,” Kris Drake, executive director of Ingham Community Health Centers, said Thursday as he unveiled his proposal to balance access to health care with the fiscal year’s upcoming challenges.
Other solutions discussed include engaging an accounting firm to conduct financial analysis and provide recommendations.
Much of the meeting was taken up by Ingham County health care and clinic staff, who expressed concerns about the centers’ financial situation, lack of communication and patient care.
“These cuts and the elimination of these services are not just affecting Lansing, Ingham, Eaton, Clinton, Barry, Michigan or Ohio, but the entire world,” says Angeline Boughner, a social worker at the Forest Community Health Center, which serves refugees and people who do not speak English.
The Board emphasized its sympathy and personal concerns regarding such decisions.
Before the vote, Todd Tennis, the Ingham County Board of Commissioners’ liaison to the Ingham Community Health Centers board, amended the proposal to additionally cut the centers’ monthly dinners and out-of-state travel expenses in solidarity with health workers.
Ingham County’s clinics are primarily located in Lansing and function as small hospitals or physician offices. They are funded largely by Medicaid and health insurance payments.
The county’s health centers also serve people without health insurance. Patients are not turned away because of lack of health insurance, which can lead to high losses.
Jared Cypher, Ingham County’s deputy controller, said community health centers had a deficit of more than $1 million last year and that the even larger deficit this year was largely due to fewer visits from Medicaid patients.
The county’s health centers receive federal funding for each Medicaid visit, an incentive for accepting Medicaid and extra money compared to other visits, he said. The department had expected about 105,000 Medicaid visits this year, but there were only about 62,000 visits, meaning significantly less federal funding is ending up at the centers, Cypher said.
Contact Sarah Moore at [email protected]
