Fiscal Year 2025 Expanded Hours. - East Hill Family Medical dba East Hill Medical Center Health Center Program Grant #H80CS24163 Project Summary East Hill Medical Center based in Auburn, NY seeks $500,000 in Year 1 and $500,000 in Year 2 to expand hours of operation at three sites located at 144 Genesee Street and 13 North Fulton Street in Auburn New York. This project expands essential healthcare services in Auburn and Cayuga County by increasing patient access to primary care for children and adults and dental care. Needs to be Addressed Cayuga County, East Hill’s primary service area, is a HRSA-designated Health Professional Shortage Area for primary care, mental health and dental. Expansion of clinical hours will support onboarding of additional providers to meet community needs. Patient surveys and community forums speak to the need for more providers and extended hours of operation. Within the Cayuga County Health Department’s 2022-2024 Community Health Assessment and Improvement Plan prepared with Auburn Community Hospital, 30.6% of over 1200 survey respondents rated the availability of local healthcare services in the County fair to poor. Nearly half of respondents (48.4%) shared they experienced long waits for an appointment within the last three years, traveled long distances to access care (23.3%), had difficulty getting to a medical appointment due to office hours (18.9%), and/or difficulty finding a provider who accepts their insurance (17.5%). East Hill examined 2023 data for patient visits to urgent care or emergency departments and discovered more than 3,400 visits by patients to over a dozen area hospitals and urgent cares, with less than 15% resulting in admission. East Hill and Auburn Community Hospital recognize the need to work collaboratively to reduce unnecessary visits; an agreement is in place for this purpose. This project will benefit area hospitals including Auburn Community Hospital by diverting nonurgent emergency department visits “after hours” to more appropriate and less costly care through expansion of health center hours. Proposed Services East Hill will expand its primary care hours to provide a more consistent schedule for those families looking for care outside of regular business hours. East Hill will provide primary care for adults and children in the evening four days a week. The Adult Medicine office will onboard clinical and nonclinical staff to offer health services consistently from 8 am to 8 pm Monday through Thursday, on top of its regular hours from 8 am to 4:30 pm. The addition of a family nurse practitioner and receptionist at Summit Pediatrics will result in being able to serve families from 8 am to 6 pm four days a week, on top of Friday hours from 8 am to 4:30 pm. The additional of a dentist, dental assistant, dental techs, and in-house 3D printing technology will help address the severe dental professional shortage in the County and expand hours and access to services. Serving patients outside traditional business hours may require transportation assistance for those relying on public transportation. Population Groups to be Served This project will benefit all current and future East Hill patients, working families and medically underserved residents of rural Cayuga County. Of the 8,641 unique patients served in 2023 through East Hill’s five practices, 51% were insured through Medicaid, 13% through Medicare, 8% dually through both Medicaid and Medicare, 4% through CHIP (Medicaid), 19% through private insurance, and 5% were uninsured. Two-thirds have household incomes below 200 percent of the federal poverty line. Populations of focus include child and adolescent youth, justice-involved, unhoused or housing vulnerable, LGBTQIA+, BIPOC, first responders and veterans.
