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Project Name: Health Center Program (H80)
Applicant Title: Chambers County Public Hospital District #1
Abstract Text: Operating under the public entity model, Chambers County Public Hospital District #1 (CCPHD) and Chambers Community Health Center, Inc. (CCHC) provides all required primary, preventive, and supplemental medical health services, including oral health and mental health/substance abuse services, through three freestanding service delivery sites: Bayside Clinic, West Chambers Medical Center, and Dayton Medical Center. In addition, CCHC operates two School Based Health Centers (Dayton ISD and Anahuac ISD) and a Mobile Unit. The public entity organization, CCPHD, also operates Bayside Community Hospital and the Wellness Center at Bayside. The current structure allows the leverage of various resources and sharing of services when appropriate and beneficial to the patient. The organization's mission is to identify and serve the healthcare needs of our communities, by providing the best care possible, regardless of one's ability to pay. CCHC’s primary service area includes Chambers County, southern Liberty County, and portions of east Harris County, with a target population consisting of identified service area residents with incomes below 200% of the Federal Poverty Level. CCHC fills a critical gap in healthcare access for the community and serves populations that might otherwise go without care. Currently, CCHC is the only provider in Chambers County offering a sliding fee scale. The need for healthcare in the service area is significant, as there is one other service area healthcare providers who offer sliding fee scale discounts to uninsured patients in Chambers County and only one other health center providing a sliding fee scale discount in Liberty County. Chambers and Liberty Counties populations are 46,571 and 91,628, respectively. According to the U.S. Census, Liberty County, Texas was one of the 10 fastest-growing counties in the United States from 2022 to 2023, with a population increase of 5.7%. The uninsured rate is 26.9% in Liberty County and 15.9% in Chambers County. At CCHC, healthcare services are available to patients of all life cycles, regardless of their ability to pay, and specific focus is placed on identified healthcare needs and health disparities of the target population and service area. Specific healthcare needs and health disparities found among service area residents include hypertension, diabetes management, immunizations (children and elderly), cancer, heart disease, depression, substance abuse, unintentional injury, respiratory disease, Alzheimer’s, and suicide. All medical staff members are directly employed, including 2.0 FTE Physicians and 11.0 FTE Mid-Level Family Practice providers. The health center employs 2.00 FTE Licensed Professional Counselors (LPC) and 1.0 FTE Dentist to provide behavioral health and dental services directly on-site. Comprehensive enabling services are critical for medically underserved patients to reduce and to also eliminate barriers and to increase access to care. The organization provides outreach, care coordination, case management, chronic care management, transitional care management, health education, referral coordination, interpretation and translation services, and eligibility assistance for patients. Community Health Workers (CHW) address social health determinants of health and provide enabling services to support comprehensive primary care services. Population Health Management staff, including patient navigators, support patients completing preventative cancer screenings and necessary follow-up services. Barriers to patient access are eliminated by providing extended hours of operation, sliding fee scale discounts, comprehensive outreach efforts, and eligibility assistance. CCHC has experienced significant growth in patient volume since being designated as an FQHC in late 2007. The growth in patient volume has continued in recent years. For example, when comparing 2020 UDS to 2023 UDS, there was a 37% increase in unduplicated patients and 62%