Carthage School Board advances plan for clinic

June 21--CARTHAGE, Mo. -- The Carthage School District will move forward with plans to open a health clinic in the fall at the high school for students, staff and family in a partnership between the district and Mercy Health System.

The proposal for the clinic was heard this week by the Carthage Board of Education, with Superintendent Mark Baker and Mercy representatives explaining how the clinic would work. It would be staffed by an advanced practitioner or a physician, and would only be available to Carthage students, staff and immediate family of staff.

The intent of the clinic is to provide a quick and easy access point for district students and staff to receive medical care. The goal, Baker said, is to improve access to health care and also help increase attendance by getting students and teachers back into the classroom quicker.

"Obviously, anytime the students are attending school, they have a better opportunity to learn," Baker said. "The more that we have our regular teachers teaching the class, the instructional emphasis is going to be stronger."

The clinic will be housed in a room at the high school that is currently vacant. Minor upgrades will need to be made to get the clinic operational, but otherwise the space is ready for use.

The clinic will operate just like a normal primary care physician's office. In order to receive care, a student must first see the school nurse, who must deem the student sick enough to be sent home. Then, it is up to parents if they wish to take their child to the clinic. Any student under 18 must have a signed parental consent form.

No medications will be housed at the clinic, but doctors will be able to write prescriptions, which can be filled at a pharmacy. The clinic will not be free, and all billing and insurance operations will be handled by Mercy.

The clinic will be staffed and operated entirely by Mercy, and most of the treatment done at the clinic will be acute care, which includes things like blood sugar testing, blood pressure testing, strep throat testing, sports physicals and other screenings. All medical regulations and privacy rules mandated by law will be followed, just like at other doctors' offices

Board member Bill Lasley was the sole dissenter regarding the plan Monday night, saying the district would be giving an advantage to Mercy over its competitors, such as Freeman Health System. The district is providing the space at the high school to Mercy for free.

"Aren't we intervening into the economics of the medical community?" Lasley said. "I don't think that we should be in the business of subsidizing one for-profit organization with taxpayer money."

Baker said the district is partnering with Mercy on the clinic because it's the current health care provider for employees and that doing it with another provider would be too confusing.

Lasley also said the expected attendance benefits are speculative and that he doesn't see how having a clinic at the high school relates to education.

Freeman has a health clinic partnership with the McDonald County School District. The Webb City School District has a Mercy clinic at Webb City High School.

Webb City Superintendent Anthony Rossetti said the clinic, which has been at the high school for about three years, has had a large positive impact on the district.

"We're providing an opportunity for our staff, students and parents to be able to access health care quicker and more efficiently than what they were previously able to," Rossetti said. "This is about as close to having a personal physician on call as possible."

In the 2017-2018 school year, the clinic had more than 900 visits by staff and family members and just under 1,000 visits by students.

Rossetti said the district has seen a positive correlation between the clinic and attendance and that the volume of patients has been higher than what was anticipated.

"If we tried to remove it, we would have a small uprising," Rossetti said. "It's been that well-received."

Down the line, Baker said, the clinic in Carthage could also provide other educational opportunities such as a practical nursing program. The district will evaluate the performance of the health clinic in the spring and make any changes as necessary. The formal agreement, which will include hours of operation for the clinic, will be ready for approval at the July board meeting.

"We think this is an opportunity to step beyond maybe what other school districts do and provide a service that's tremendous to our staff and students," Baker said. "It's a great advantage for us."

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