June 2010 The Newsletter of Access Community Health Centers
Quality Matters Assessing the Need:
The quality of the health care our patients receive has
long been a key indicator of our successful work in the
community. In fact, there are many quality measures
that we use when applying for
grants and when we report to
government health organizations.
These measures are so important to
our future that we have developed
a plan to put into place a quality
program which will allow us to
understand exactly where and
how to improve our performance.
This is particularly relevant to our
philosophy of providing a health
care home for our patients --a network of services that
they can rely on which includes primary care, dental,
behavioral health and pharmacy services.
According to DC-based National Committee for
Care Accessibility Community Diversity Health Opportunity Quality Assurance, there are a number of areas where
health care organizations should focus, including
access to care, management of patient data, tracking
of referrals, and other key performance measures. We
will be looking at all of these areas and developing
methods for tracking our progress.
Our goal with this new focus on quality improvement
is simply this: ensuring that patients of Access
Community Health Centers receive the care, the
information and the resources they need to attain their
best possible health. As the NCQA puts it, attention to
quality will “assure that patients get the indicated care
when and where they need and want it in a culturally
and linguistically appropriate manner.”
The first step in launching this new tool will be to
hire a new “Director of Quality.” The Director’s focus
will be to oversee quality improvement activities
and provide related consulting and support services
including policy development, data analysis,
competency testing and tracking. This individual will
work closely with our Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Ken
Loving, as well as the rest of the management team
at Access, in order to ensure we continue our journey
from good to great.
Sincerely,
George Barton
CEO, Access Community Health Centers
Care Accessibility Community Diversity Health
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Dental Care in Our Community
It’s no secret. In Wisconsin and nationwide, dental care is hard to
come by if you have Medicaid or are uninsured. Recent reports in the
local media, including the Wisconsin State Journal and Madison-
based WKOW TV, have focused on dental health care disparities for
people with limited means. In fact, according to WKOW, there are
“virtually no dentists … accepting new patients on the BadgerCare
health plan” in the counties where Access offers dental services.
Since the 1990s, there has been extensive research and reporting
on the fact that oral health has a direct impact on overall health.
Diseases and conditions of the teeth and gums can be a contributing
factor in problems with hearth health, such as strokes, arrhythmia
and other cardiovascular concerns. As a result, researchers and
health advocates have promoted dental visits particularly for more
vulnerable populations like children, pregnant mothers, homeless
people and the elderly.
Although Wisconsin’s Medicaid program (known as Badgercare)
does offer some limited benefits to cover children and pregnant
women, in many cases these individuals cannot find a dental practice
that will take them on as patients.
Our two practices, at William T. Evjue in East Madison and at
the Dodgeville Dental Clinic, were established in order to begin
addressing the lack of dental care for such underserved patients.
In addition to regular adult care, we provide pediatric dental
appointments in order to make sure that we can see children as
young as 3 years old. Additionally, when providing prenatal primary
health care, Access encourages pregnant patients to schedule a dental
visit as well.
Because of the huge demand for dental services, Access is not always
able to immediately offer an appointment to every patient who
(continued inside right)
I’d say that 98 percent of our patients have never had routine care
before, if you define that as even an annual visit to the dentist. At
Access, we don’t just provide emergency or preventive care, we
help patients with restoring their mouth to a healthy state so they
can do things like get a job, smile at their grandchildren, and eat a
steak again.
–Errin Pfeifer
Opportunity
6/24/10 12:10 PM

FQHC: What’s In a Name?
Access Community Health Centers is
designated as a Federally Qualified Health
Center, or FQHC, which enables us to receive
grants from the U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services. This funding helps
pay in part for the cost of caring for patients
who are either uninsured or underinsured.
FQHCs are located in areas where care is
needed but scarce, and improve access to
care for millions of Americans regardless
of their insurance status or ability to pay.
Their costs of care rank among the lowest,
and they reduce the need for more expensive
hospital-based and specialty care, saving
billions of dollars for taxpayers. Federal
guidelines lay out four specific areas of
expectations for FQHC’s:
1. Mission and Strategy
An FQHC must serve people who are in
need either in medically underserved
areas (MUA) or in medically underserved
populations (MUPs). A health center must
also ensure that the care it provides is in line
with best practices, fits with patients’ needs,
and is continually focused on quality.
2. Clinical Program
Health centers under the Federal guidelines
are expected to provide a full range of
primary care services. Primary care includes
routine office visits for health problems as
well as preventative check-ups, vaccinations,
well-child visits and many more types of
services. Patients must also be provided with
a bill of rights and responsibilities.
3. Governance
The rules for FQHC’s require that at least
51% of the board be made up of clients of the
health center, who represent the population
being served. This ensures that the center
will always be responsive to the community’s
health care needs.
4. Management and Finance
Health centers must have sound financial
systems and strategies in place if they are
to fulfill their mission of providing health
care to the underserved. Centers must
also adhere to professional management
practices, so that the organization can
operate effectively and meet the needs
of clients.
Care Accessibility Community Diversity
achc 6-10.indd 2
By the
Numbers
(Dental Care in Short Supply, continued from cover)
“My children were in the room with me
Access Names New Dental Officer requests one. We schedule patients in blocks when I had my dental appointment. They
of appointments four week s at a time, which
allows us to balance the needs of different weren’t aware of any type of pain because Number of dental
We are pleased to announce the promotion of Errin patients receiving
Pfeifer to Chief Dental Officer at Access on June 1, 2010. types of patients for particular types of dental there was none! Now they will be more
services. In addition, since many of our
care at Access in
Errin came to Access as a dental provider in August 2009:
2007 from Oregon, where she was a dentist first at La patients have developed significant dental willing to go to the dentist.”
problems over an extended number
8,442
Clinica del Valle and later served as Dental Director at
Umpqua Community Health Center. She became the of years, a typical new patient may require – 2009 patient survey
5 or 6 visits just to restore their teeth to a
Dental Director at Access in September of 2008. Errin Percentage of
healthy condition.
holds a bachelors degree from Luther College in Iowa, dental patients at
and is a graduate of the Tufts University School of Dental Access who are
Medicine. This new position will allow Access to have a children:
single point-person for dental services on the leadership 29 percent
team. We believe this will help drive the implementation of our strategic dental
objectives and create clarity in the dental program.
Access Dental Clinics
Number of Dane
William T. Evjue Dental Clinic
Location: Madison County Residents
Number of operatories: 16 eligible for dental
care through
Dentists: 9
Hygienists: 4 Medicaid:
Addressing the Need: Year established: 2004 56,453
Avg. Patients seen per month: 2,000
Dental Care Expansion Underway
Percentage of
Based on the high level of unmet Our initial foray into Iowa county those residents
demand for dental services in south- took place in 2009 in collaboration who received
central Wisconsin, our goal is to with the Southwestern Wisconsin dental care in
expand access to more patients so Community Action Program with 2009:
that more people are able to receive the establishment of our Dodgeville 26 percent
the care that they need. This means Dental Clinic. Our plan is to Dodgeville Dental Clinic
establishing a new dental clinic strengthen that clinic by reorganizing Location: Dodgeville
in the town of Sun Prairie with 11 care and adding space so that we can Number of operatories: 4 Number of dental
operatories by the end of 2010, as well serve more people in that region. Dentists: 4 health care call
as expanding and reorganizing our Hygienists: 1 requests received
facility in Dodgeville in early 2011. Once this additional capacity is Year established: 2009 by Dane County
in place, we will be able to see Avg. Patients seen per month: 280 Department
The Sun Prairie facility was purchased an additional 9,000 patients per of Health each
in June 2010 and will undergo year. This will also alleviate some month:
renovations and refurbishment of the excess demand we currently 400
throughout the summer before it experience at our William T Evjue
opens in the fall. The city was chosen clinic. According to CEO George
as a service location based on research Barton “We know there’s a lot of need Sun Prairie Dental Clinic Percentage
Location: Sun Prairie
that clearly demonstrates the need out there -- the best way to address it of children in
for dental care in that community. is to create a sustainable action plan Number of operatories: 11 Wisconsin with
Dentists: 6 (planned)
Residents from Sun Prairie already that provides patients with consistent, private dental
Hygienists: 2 (planned)
make up about 15% of Access accessible, high-quality dental care.” insurance:
dental patients. Year established: Fall 2010 58 percent
Avg. Patients seen per month: 1,000 (planned)
Health Opportunity Care Accessibility Community Diversity Health
6/24/10 12:10 PM