Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | April 27, 2020 | Worcester Business Journal 11 have been closed while school is out of session except for where schools have remained open as temporary homeless shelters. Kennedy is working on secur- ing blood pressure cuffs it can give to patients at home for checking their own signs, along with having providers check in with them online or by phone. "We're working through a lot of cre- ative measures to provide more health care to people in their homes than we were before," Kerrigan said. Both Worcester community health centers have had screening tents set up to help potential coronavirus patients without possibly infecting people inside a waiting room. Both have required their staffs to wear face masks and other pro- tective gear throughout their shi. e Family Health Center, which also has a facility in Southbridge, has direct- ed its staff to enter through a back door when starting their shi, where they have their temperatures taken. At the Family Health Center, primary care, behavioral health and other areas have gone online – and even some tele-dentistry as a way to keep up with patients who don't need emergency work. e center has launched home delivery pharmacy services and its lead- ership has worked with the city admin- istration, UMass Memorial and Saint Vincent to make sure the area's homeless population is kept safe. e center is working to make sure people prone to anxiety are handling the outbreak OK and children who are out of school and may have parents affected are doing well, said Dr. Valerie Pietry, Family Health Center's chief medical officer. e Family Health Center is also working to find potential funding opportunities to help its patients obtain the technology they need to interact with health providers online from home. "We've found that our folks have been quite adaptive and have innovated on the fly," said Lou Brady, the Family Health Center's president and CEO. Up next – whenever the pandemic subsidies – could be another rush for community health centers. Postponed appointments will have to be resched- uled, and a new sector of the population could find itself out of work, without health insurance and needing to turn to these facilities. "Some things can't be replaced by tele-health," Brady said. "We're really trying to determine the capacity we can have between in-person and tele-health, and see what models we want to explore to give the maximum level of capacity." The revenue challenge While shiing care as quickly as they can, community health center leaders have been dealing with another major challenge: A sharp drop in revenue they would normally see as reimbursement for routine services. e Family Health Center is eval- uating potential furloughs of 30 to 40 workers. Both that center and Kennedy, which doesn't foresee furloughs today, are working with legislators on Beacon Hill and in Washington, D.C., to secure more badly needed funding. Federally qualified community health centers got roughly $1.4 billion from the federal CARES Act, spread among nearly 1,400 such centers nationally, according to the U.S. Health Resources & Services Administration. Most was given in the second of two phases in early April. "is second amount buys health centers about five to six weeks of finan- cial stability," said Hunt, the president of Worcester community health centers, by the numbers Worcester's Edward M. Kennedy Community Health Center and the Family Health Center of Worcester have remade much of their care operations because of the coronavirus outbreak. Postponement of appointments has led to a dramatic drop in revenue, requiring government help for them and other community health centers. Edward M. Kennedy Family Health Community Health Center Center of Worcester Note: Employees are as of calendar 2017; revenue and expenses are fiscal 2017; aid is combined through two rounds of funding announced March 24 and April 8 Source: U.S. Internal Revenue Service, ProPublica, Health Resources & Services Administration Number of employees 423 544 Program service revenue $21.7 million $24.8 million Total revenue $34.0 million $38.4 million Expenses $31.3 million $38.1 million Federal coronavirus aid $1.4 million $1.1 million the Massachusetts League of Communi- ty Health Centers. "at's it." Hunt worries a loss of funding – even temporary – will undo decades of prog- ress in caring for vulnerable popula- tions. Kennedy has gotten about $1.4 million and the Family Health Center $1.1 million. at money isn't nearly enough. Tens of billions more have been requested, Hunt said. Kerrigan described progress as slow in getting the needed financial resources. "For us, we're a community health center," he said. "We live on the margin all the time." The Family Health Center has set up a tent outside its lobby to care safely for those with coronavirus symptoms. "We're working through a lot of creative measures to provide more health care to people in their homes than we were before," said Stephen Kerrigan, the president and CEO of the Kennedy Community Health Center. W PHOTO/COURTESY PHOTO/BRAD KANE

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