Partner Highlight: Coalition of Community Health Clinics
The Coalition of Community Health Clinics was one of the founding partners of Project Access NOW and it housed Multnomah County’s Project Access program until last fiscal year. The Coalition’s new executive director Sam Chase said of the program, “Project Access NOW is an important partner in connecting uninsured patients to healthcare. The program literally saves lives, and has given thousands more the opportunity for a healthier life.”
The Coalition looks forward to working closely with Project Access NOW as the safety net community prepares for changes brought about by healthcare reform. Sam stated that it would be a mistake to believe that safety net providers and Project Access NOW won’t be needed when health insurance becomes a mandate. The Coalition actually expects the demand for safety net primary care and specialty services to increase. As low-income, medically vulnerable, and other previously uninsured people secure health insurance, they will be challenged to find traditional primary care providers to serve them.
“Just because you have health ’insurance’,” Sam said, “doesn’t mean you are guaranteed healthcare ’access’.”
Sam pointed out that after Massachusetts made healthcare compulsory, wait times to access primary care grew much longer. Safety net health clinics and emergency rooms were jammed with more people seeking care. Moreover, though more patients were reimbursable, a drop in state, federal, and private grants created overall deficits for safety net providers.
Sam began his work for the Coalition in July of this year. From his experience working as Chief of Staff to Portland City Commissioner Nick Fish and Executive Director for the Oregon Opportunity Network and Clackamas Community Land Trust, he brings expertise in coalition building, policy development, and nonprofit associations and operations.
“Health reform provides great opportunities—and with it, a new set of challenges,” he said, “and let’s not forget that the number of our region’s uninsured is higher than the national average. That fact won’t change for at least three years.”
(October 2010)
