Jacksonville Florida Community Health Center

With the increasing immigrant population a third barrier affecting access to health care is a cultural barrier. Culture barriers can include values and beliefs, language and race and ethnicity. Health beliefs and behavior can become a barrier when patients decide not to seek medical treatment and instead turn to home remedies and healers when treating illnesses. Approximately 10% of Americans speak a language other than English and can be classified ad being limited in their proficiency. For these patients language becomes a barrier and they are less likely to receive optimal medical treatment (Flores, 2006). Horton and Johnson (2010) stress the importance of communication in reducing disparities and increasing the trust of patients in the health care system. As reported by the American College of Physicians, evidence reveals that racial and ethnic minorities are more likely to receive inferior care when compared with non-minorities. This occurs even when minorities have access to insurance and adequate income (Racial and ethnic disparities in health care, 2010).

the population that the health center caters to must be identified as an unserved or underserved one

Department of Health & Human Services, 2015). These provisions were aimed at providing new protections for health insurance consumers, lowering the cost and improving the quality of health care, and increasing access to health insurance and affordable care. While many of the ACA’s provisions had implications for community health centers, the ones that impacted them most directly were the expansion of Medicaid and availability of subsidized health insurance through exchanges and the creation of the Community Health Center Fund, which allocated $11 billion in new funding through fiscal year 2015 for operations, capital projects, and expansion of services to enable community health centers to serve an anticipated 20 million newly insured patients (National Association of Community Health Centers, n.d.; “Valley Community Healthcare,” 2015).

Although the number of illegal immigrants is substantially growing on a daily basis, the national health care policies seem to fail in addressing their medical needs. This, however, is becoming a growing challenge because of the conflicts between medical ethics and immigration laws. Despite the alluded hope for this patients group within the immigration reform, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) fails to alleviate the burden of their unmet health care needs. Advocates of their rights for health coverage argue that medical ethics and the United States moral obligations necessitate expanding coverage to all population residing within the borders of the country. Conversely, opponents deny their health coverage because their illegal status disqualify them from all public benefits. This paper goes beyond these opposing assumptions and instead, proposes a strategic plan to raise and combine resources necessary to establish a health care center for the uninsured, underinsured, and illegal immigrants in Northern California. The paper covers the establishment of this center with special focus on strategic funding, funding constraints, related state and national regulations, health policy, resources allocation, and managerial and leadership.

Jacksonville is Florida’s largest city. The population of this city is 821,784. In 1840, Jacksonville only had a population of 350 residents. In 1901, this city hosted the first college football game in Florida. The game produced a crowd of 2,000 people. Jacksonville is located in Duval county. To insure your home is covered, rates are an average $1,227.

With the implementation of the ACA, many states have expanded their Medicaid programs to include a larger population of low income individuals and families that were not able to obtain health insurance prior to the law. Some of the issues that state legislators struggle with are the overall cost of providing services for the additional recipients, staying within budget, determining an adequate approach of offering quality care, and providing adequate coverage for each recipient. Even though the cost of Medicaid expansion within each state has increased the budget for the program, new appraisals has shown that Medicaid programs spend less per enrollee than commercial health insurance and much of the increase in Medicaid expenses originate from the increase in enrollment in the programs (Coughlin, Long, Clemens-Cope, & Resnick, 2013).

America spends 2.5 times more on healthcare than most developed countries yet still ranking 51st in life expectancy in the world (Baum, 2015). The Affordable Care Act (ACA) was implemented January 1, 2014 by President Obama to expand coverage to millions of individuals in need. It consists of two separate pieces of legislation: the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (Centers for Medicaid and Medicaid Services, 2016). Although the ACA will give health benefits to millions of uninsured Americans, hospitals are receiving less compensation because of the high demand of health care from over qualified recipients. Through the Children’s Health Insurance Program and also the Social Security Act, states are able to pilot a test approach that could extend coverage up to 200 percent of the poverty line (Sommers, Kenney, & Epstein, 2015). Such a large increase in the size of the population that is now eligible to apply for the ACA comes with a sizable amount of fiscal responsibility from the states and puts an immense strain on the amount of money guaranteed to pay for the services provided (Sonier et al., 2013). Given the lack of funding from the Medicaid program, absence of reimbursement strategies, and budget of healthcare in America’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP),

The RHC’s main form of increasing coverage is the continuation of the St. Louis Healthcare Safety Net. After the last free, public hospital in St. Louis closed in 2001, the St. Louis RHC stepped in to redirect around $30 million dollars from the federal government back into the St. Louis City and County healthcare net. Their program Gateway to Better Health is a bridge for healthcare access for low-income, uninsured residents of St. Louis, covering 40% of the uninsured residents in poverty in the St. Louis region. Their access to care is provided by 5 Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) that are distributed across the city and county region. These FQHCs are state-of-the-art facilities with amazing doctors who provide a wide variety of services under one roof. The comprehensive model of FQHCs includes but is not limited to dental, WIC (women with infants and children), mental health, psychiatry, and primary care services. This comprehensive coverage all under one roof helps to reduce the transportation barrier, since patients are able to keep and meet their appointments. Additionally, FQHCs are open to all patients regardless of ability to pay or immigration status, though there are still challenges

The population demographic of Miami-Dade County is the most ethnically diverse County in Florida. According to the US Census Bureau (2015), estimates the foreign-born population to be 1,363,163 million in Miami-Dade County. The population is a mix of 78% white (16% non-Hispanic), 65% of the population being Hispanic or Latino, 19% Black (African-American, Haitian and Caribbean) and 3% other (U.S. Census Bureau, 2010). The diverse population Miami-Dade has high rates of uninsured, and underinsured, Americans in the country.

The Affordable Healthcare Act (ACA) is a controversial issue to many. There are many pros and cons to the law and for discussion board purposes I will choose one benefit for community health. The ACA was established in 2010 by President Barak Obama and the enactment of the law may prove to be the most important event that affects future of healthcare in the United States (Blumenthal, Abrams & Nuzum, 2015). The greatest benefit to me that affects communities is the expansion of healthcare coverage to many citizens. There is an estimated 16.4 million citizens that have gained coverage through this law (Blumenthal, Abrams & Nuzum, 2015). The greatest coverage gains are through vulnerable populations including the young and those with low socioeconomic status which encompasses many

This study discusses the effects on community health centers and how much they will impact preventable hospital admission among those patients with Medicaid or are uninsured. According to the authors of this study, due to the Affordable Care Act (ACA)it is expected that by 2023 expanded health care coverage will enroll an additional 25 million people into health care plans. Community health centers have begun to play a very important role in providing primary care among low-income patient populations because of the health care expansion under the ACA. Federally qualified health centers (FQHC) are providing comprehensive health care for Medicaid and Medicare patients and being reimburse at higher rates than other medical facilities making

Access to health care refers to the individual’s ability to obtain and use needed services (Ellis & Hartley, 2008). Access to health care affects a multitude of people. Uninsured, underinsured, elderly, lower socioeconomic class, minorities, and people that live in remote areas are at the highest risk for lack of access to health care. There are also economical and political roles that complicate access to health care. Access to health care is a multi-faceted concept involving geographic, economics, or sociocultural issues. With my extensive research on access to health care, I hope to provide influences regarding; who is affected by lack of access, geographic, economic, sociocultural access, and

The mission of Hawaii Health Systems Corporation is to provide accessible, comprehensive healthcare services that are quality-driven, customer-focused, and cost-effective. The vision of the organization is to be the provider of choice for the communities it serves, the employer of choice for its staff, and the system of choice for its physicians (www.hhsc.org, 2014). The organization works with the physician base along with other service providers to plan and implement business ventures that will enhance the services offered to its patients. Employees and community leaders are included in the decision making processes to ensure adequate representation. Each facility has its own separate mission and vision statement that integrates into the overarching statement of Hawaii Health Systems Corporation.

Changes in access to health care across different populations are the chief reason for current disparities in health care provision. These changes occur for several reasons, and some of the main factors that contribute to the problem in the United States are: Lack of health insurance – Several racial, ethnic, socioeconomic and other minority groups lack adequate health insurance coverage in comparison with people who can afford healthcare insurance. The majority of these individuals are likely to put off health care or go without the necessary healthcare and medication that is needed. Lack of financial resources – Lack of accessibility to funding is a barrier to health care for a lot of people living in the United States

The health care organization covered is Jackson Health System in Miami, Florida. With over 2500 beds, this is one of the largest health systems in Florida and its flagship Jackson Memorial is one of the largest in the country. There are a number of strengths and weaknesses that will characterize the strategic direction that the organization will follow. Among the strengths are that Jackson has a large geographic footprint with Miami-Dade County, it has the financial backing of the county, that it has a diverse workforce, its relationship with medical school at the University of Miami, its leadership, and the multiple clinics and specialized services that it offers.