Clinics, groups provide 'safety net' for health care
Representatives of these "safety net" providers — a system of community health clinics and nonprofit groups from across the state — gathered Tuesday to discuss the unique health-care needs of Utah's low-income and other vulnerable populations.
"We don't want them working in silos, because they encounter the same problems," said Dr. David Sundwall, executive director of the Utah Department of Health, which hosted Tuesday's Safety Net Summit.
"To the extent they work together, they can help each other and they can help me identify the gaps in service," Sundwall said, noting that the organizations are doing an effective job at providing health care for a group in need.
"We really are far more capable of serving the poor than people appreciate," he said.
Safety net providers range from community health clinics funded by state and federal dollars, and private, nonprofit and volunteer organizations.
"Each safety net provider really serves an important niche that is valuable and important," said Dr. Marc Babitz, director of the health department's division of health systems improvement.
Fifty percent had incomes at or below 100 percent of the federal poverty level, while another 20 percent were 150 to 200 percent of the poverty level — approximately $20,000 for a family of four.
"That's very significant and really speaks to what the safety net's doing," said Kevin McCulley with the Association for Utah Community Health, who analyzed and presented the data.
Tuesday's data, which is somewhat incomplete due to differing record-keeping practices at the agencies, also indicated that nearly 64 percent of the patients were female, almost half were between the ages of 27 and 64, and some 60 percent were Hispanic.
The survey did not ask the agencies for the citizenship status of their patients, largely because providers often do not ask that question as a condition of providing care, Babitz said.
But Dr. Mansoor Emam, medical director of the Maliheh Free Clinic in Salt Lake City, said the data would have been helpful to debunk the stereotype that safety net providers primarily serve undocumented immigrants.
"To actually make the point that this is not the case, that these clinics only serve the undocumented, illegal aliens," Emam said.
In its 11 months in operation, 49 percent of the clinic's patients have been U.S. citizens, he said. Another 31 percent has been permanent U.S. residents, while the remaining 20 percent have chosen not to answer the question, leaving providers to assume the patients are not legal citizens.
E-mail: awelling@desnews.com
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