http://goo.gl/SC9NDZ
In fact, eight of the nine non-profit free clinics in West Virginia this year began participating in Medicaid. The shift – which also occurred to a lesser degree in Ohio and Illinois, among other states – is being closely watched nationwide and reflects how facilities are adapting in the 26 states that expanded Medicaid.
“We used to say … ‘wouldn’t it be great if we no longer had uninsured and we could close our doors and go out of business,’” said Michelle Goldman, CEO at the Eastern Panhandle Care Clinic in Ranson, W.Va., which is one of the free clinics now also taking Medicaid. “But the truth is we like the work we do and enjoy helping this population and believe we still have a lot to offer them.”
‘REAL DISRUPTION’
While a few free health clinics have shut their doors in Arkansas and Washington, most expansion-state non-profit free clinics are reassessing their business strategies. Medicaid offers the potential to give their patients better access to specialists, diagnostic testing and hospital care, and that’s created a sense of unease for operators of the clinics that for decades have played a key role in the nation’s health-care safety net.