Funding for safety net clinics nearing deadline

Sept. 29--MANKATO -- Minnesota clinics serving the uninsured and underinsured are facing a spell in funding limbo if federal legislators don't approve essential health care programs ahead of a Saturday deadline.

Congress' dogged focus on repealing the Affordable Care Act in recent months is expected to spill action on the funding into October.

For safety net clinics like Open Door Health Center, one of 17 such providers with more than 70 locations, the delay creates a high degree of uncertainty.

Doug Jaeger, CEO at Open Door, said a quarter of the clinic's budget could be at stake.

"We're right now on target to serve 12,000 patients (this year)," he said. "Potentially a quarter of those 12,000 patients may have to do something else because we're going to have to look at our funding at what we can and can't do."

"Something else" could mean putting a strain on emergency rooms at other health facilities.

"That's when a lot of this funding is supposed to help is to not overwhelm the ERs with chronic care and things that should be taken care of," Jaeger said.

The clinic's grant year actually starts anew in March, giving Open Door more room than others might have to wait for the funding to come through.

"That for us is breathing room to allow the federal government to continue to work towards getting our funding back," Jaeger said. "It does give us a little sense of relief, but obviously we're already looking at plans of how it's going to impact us."

The Energy and Commerce Committee in the U.S. House is expected to move forward a five-year extension of the funding next week, which is past the deadline. A path forward in the Senate is less clear.

Lisa Hoffman Wojcik, development and communications manager for Open Door Health Center, said the situation safety net clinics find themselves in isn't necessarily atypical. It's just far from ideal.

Other programs are facing the same uncertainty, including the state's Child Health Insurance Program, or CHIP, which covers health insurance costs for 125,000 Minnesota children.

Bharti Wahi, executive director of the Children's Defense Fund-Minnesota, said a funding delay would be particularly galling because legislators have had the renewal on their radar for awhile. There's also bipartisan support for the programs being funded.

"We're frustrated that so little movement is taking place on legislation that has bipartisan approval," she said.

Funding being cut off would leave the state short on money it expected to have for essential health programs. Pregnant women would be among those most impacted. Without CHIP, they could move onto emergency medical assistance and lose coverage for pre and postnatal care.

"How the state will address this issue is of critical concern, and again, completely unnecessary," Wahi said. "It's not a surprise."

Jaeger said the bipartisan support at least gives him some optimism a resolution will come soon. The hope is it doesn't come too late.

"It's very concerning and we don't want to diminish that, but we're hopeful something will be resolved in the coming weeks," he said.

This story has been updated.

Follow Brian Arola @BrianArolaMFP.

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