Thursday, December 26, 2024
12/26/2024
Penobscot Community Health Center’s (PCHC) CDS funding request is to renovate existing space owned by PCHC and to purchase FFE (furniture, fixtures, equipment) to open a dental clinic in Belfast, Maine. The dental clinic will be co-located with PCHC’s primary care practice, Seaport Community Health Center (SCHC), and available to SCHC’s primary care patients as well as non-patients. The dental practice will offer comprehensive dental services. Dental care access in Waldo County is extremely limited, especially for MaineCare, uninsured and underinsured patients. The U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) designates the Belfast, Waldo County area as a “Health Provider Shortage Area” in both mental health and dental fields and considers the entire county to be a “Medically Underserved Area.” According to county Rural Health Profile data, nearly 30% of Waldo County residents are at 150% or below of the federal poverty level, including 11% of seniors, a significantly higher rate than the state average of 8.7%. Median household income in Waldo County is nearly 13% lower than the state average ($42,221), in a state where median income lags the national average significantly. There is a higher rate of publicly insured and uninsured patients in Waldo County than in the rest of Maine. Though private practice dentists exist in the region, they accept few, if any MaineCare patients and do not have a sliding fee scale for low income, self-pay patients. Without access to comprehensive dental care, oral diseases progress rapidly, becoming emergent and leading to loss of teeth, which exacerbates other healthcare conditions. Lacking preventive care, people overutilize hospital emergency rooms and other medical facilities to help manage dental pain, driving up the total cost of care to the healthcare system. Dental pain is among the top drivers of emergency room utilization. Attempts to self-manage preventable dental pain associated with ora l disease can also lead to opioid addiction and other substance use disorders (SUDs). Moreover, poor oral hygiene leads to poor nutrition, low confidence, lower employment rates, and a downward spiral in health and wellbeing and socioeconomic status. In November 2021, PCHC, Maine’s largest FQHC, purchased the former Bank of America complex in Belfast, Maine in order to secure space to expand its primary care clinic. SCHC has provided integrated primary care in the region for over 40 years, but in the past decade demand for primary, mental health and substance use disorder services has grown exponentially. PCHC recently renovated and now houses SCHC’s expanded primary care clinic on the first floor of building 5 of the complex. CDS funds will be used to renovate a portion of the second floor of this building, approximately 4,500 SF, and to purchase equipment for a new dental clinic. The scope of these renovations includes new interior walls, new electrical, new HVAC distribution, and the installation of the dental equipment necessary for an 8-chair dental clinic. This project will not require renovations to the exterior of the facility or ground disturbance. This request for CDS funding will significantly improve access to oral healthcare in Waldo County for all, regardless of ability to pay. The clinic will serve a projected 7,200 patients each year. We will also provide acute/walk-in dental care services, significantly reducing ED utilization for emergent dental needs. The renovation project will add approximately 15 FTE construction jobs. The clinic will employ 13-15 FTE permanent dental team members. Adding dental services is a win for the community and the healthcare system: it will increase jobs, support economic development, efficiently leverage taxpayer dollars flowing to FQHCs, and reduce the total cost of care to Maine’s healthcare system.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).