Sunday, April 20, 2025
4/20/2025
Fiscal Year 2025 Expanded Hours. - Greater Sioux Community Health Center dba Promise Community Health Center (H80CS24171) Greater Sioux Community Health Center dba Promise Community Health Center opened in July 2008, became an FQHC Look Alike in late 2008, and has been a Health Center Program grantee since 2012. We provide primary and preventive medical, dental, and behavioral health services to more than 6,400 underserved individuals in rural Sioux County, Iowa. Located in the far northwest corner of the state, the majority of our patients are low-income and are uninsured or Medicaid beneficiaries. More than half of our patients are Hispanic/Latino and are best provided care in a language other than English. As our patient population has become more diverse, we have seen an increased need for more non-traditional hours for dental services and additional capacity during our current evening hours for medical services to meet the needs of patients who have work and school schedules with limited flexibility. The need for additional dental capacity in our service area is demonstrated through Sioux County’s designation as a dental Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA). In 2022, the county reported a population-to-dentist ratio of 1,900:1 – higher than the state (1,410) and national (1,360) averages. Because of this dental workforce shortage, underserved individuals – those who have less annual income or who are Hispanic – are much less likely to have visited a dentist in the past year. Additionally, between 2019 and 2022 Sioux County reported a decrease in the percentage of Medicaid children who received any oral health or diagnostic dental services in the past year. Because we are the only dental provider in the service area that accepts Medicaid patients, there is a need to increase access for low-income children and adults. Sioux County report a higher percentage of adults with no personal health care provider and more days during which their physical health was not good compared with the state average. Many adults in the service area – both patients and non-patients – work for companies with shifts during all hours of the day, which makes accessing services during normal office hours difficult, if not impossible. Access to services during regular office hours is also a challenge for school-age children and their parents, many of whom must travel 15-30 minutes to Sioux Center for appointments. Appointments after 4pm and into the early evening better fit these patients’ schedules. To address these needs, Expanded Hours funding will be used to: • Increase access to dental services by adding early morning hours from 7am-8am Tuesday-Friday. • Increase access to dental services during our existing evening hours when currently only medical services are provided from 5pm-7pm Monday-Wednesday. • Increase access to medical services during our existing evening hours from 5-6pm Monday and 6-7pm Wednesday. We estimate an additional 345 new unduplicated patients will be served in 2025.
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).