The Flint Hills Community Health Center board of directors approved an expenditure of grant monies for equipment for the organization’s mobile dental clinic.
The board approved an expenditure of $9,631 for self-contained portable dental equipment used for preventative care in schools. This included a portable patient chair with carrying case for the center’s school-based oral health project. Funding for this equipment was provided by the Kansas Charitable Dental Foundation. The board approved the request unanimously.
Also during the meeting, a presentation was made for Project RevUp, a collaborative program designed to help health centers improve patient visit efficiency and effectiveness, enhance revenue and further integrate Health Disparities Collaborative (HDC) work into daily operations. Five team members are working on the project including Jody Wilkins, Betty Murrell, Laurie Kohler, Debbie Tesh and Lougene Marsh.
The goals of Project RevUp are to reduce a patient’s time in the clinic and increase productivity. Other goals include an increase in revenue by reducing accounts receivable balances and the collection rate is set at more than 85 percent.
The group has been able to determine so far that a patient’s average time in the clinic from the time they walk in the door until the time they leave is 53 minutes; the average patient-provider face-to-face time is 11.7 minutes; and the average patient waiting time is 19.4 minutes. The group is looking for ways to decrease those times, except the actual patient-to-provider time.
Other items discussed:
• The Sunflower Foundation awarded FHCHC with a $200,000 grant over a three-year period to support the expansion of pediatric services.
• Albert Asendorf, a retired internal medicine specialist, has contacted FHCHC about doing some volunteer work for the clinic. He lives in Kansas six months of the year and spends the rest of the year in Arizona where he does volunteer work for a clinic.
• August 340B activity reported by Graves indicated that 994 prescriptions were dispensed to 589 patients. The average cost to the client was $5.05 per prescription with the average cost to patients less than 100 percent of the Federal Poverty Level at $1.65.