GSP Health plans new Woodward community health center

A new community health center could be serving patients in Woodward as soon as late November, with GSP Health racing a 120-day federal grant deadline to get the facility operational.

The biggest hurdle now isn’t finding patients. It’s finding a place to see them.

GSP Health is searching for a location in Woodward after learning that a previously planned site is no longer available. Tim Starkey, chief executive officer of GSP Health, said the organizations is eager to establish a permanent presence in the community and eventually expand its services.

“We are looking out for a home,” Starkey said. “We don’t have a specific site or location, but we’re very excited to come to town and provide medical, at least one medical provider in the beginning, medical and behavioral health services, and then we have dental services also at two of our other sites.”

The federal government expects the new health center to begin seeing patients within 120 days of receiving its funding notice, Starkey said. Because that notice arrived about three weeks later than expected, he said GSP Health is anticipating that the deadline could hopefully be extended.

His goal is to have the Woodward community health center operating by Jan. 1, although the center could be required to open as early as Nov. 20 without an extension.

“We have to have a provider and see at least one patient,” Starkey said. “We have to be operational.”

If necessary, GSP Health could use a mobile medical unit based in Enid while a permanent location is being secured or renovated, he said.

The project began with a grant application submitted about two years ago after local physicians approached him about the need for additional care in Woodward.

Starkey said Dr. Keenan Ferguson (who used to work for them in Cherokee) and Dr. Kenan Kirkendall contacted them and described a community with low-income, uninsured and Medicaid patients who were having difficulty accessing care.

That need is central to the community health care center model, Starkey said.

GSP Health operated federally supported community health centers that serve patients regardless of their ability to pay. The organization offers a sliding-fee discount for patients earning up to 200% of the federal poverty level, with a minimum medical visit fee of $25 for those at or below the poverty level, he said.

The centers also accept private insurance, Medicare or Medicaid.

“We can see anybody,” Starkey said.

The Woodward center initially is expected to offer primary medical care and behavioral health services. Primary care can include family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics, OB/GYN, although GSP Health does not provide specialty care directly and can refer patients to other providers when needed.

“We can’t do everything at once,” Starkey said. “We’ll start out with medical, at least one medical provide, and go from there and see how much demand there is and how much we grow.”

GSP Health also provides dental services at two of its other locations, and Starkey said the Woodward operation could grow over time based on community demand.

Starkey pointed to the organization’s Cherokee location, a community he said is much smaller than Woodward, as an example. GSP Health operates a 17,000-square-foot facility in the former Alfalfa County Hospital building there.

“It can become fairly large, fairly quickly,” he said. “We’ll be growing over the years as we go. But initially, we’ll start out small.”

The organization has experience expanding health care access in smaller Oklahoma communities. Over the past 18 years, GSP Health has received grants to establish sites in Cherokee, Medford and Canton, in addition to operating three sites in Enid.

The new funding became available after Congress allocated additional money for community health centers through the legislation commonly known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” Starkey said.

Nationwide, 158 new community health center sites received funding from the Health Resources & Services Administration, including eight in Oklahoma, according to Starkey.

The search for a Woodward location is now a priority because GSP Health cannot completed several steps needed to begin operations without an address, including applying for Medicare and establishing contracts with insurance companies.

“We can’t do any of it without an address,” Starkey said.

Once the Woodward site is established, patients eventually will have a dedicated local phone number. Until then, Starkey said, residents after the opening date can contact any of GSP Health’s existing locations because the sites share the same phone and electronic medical record systems.

Starkey said GSP Health also has received support from local providers, including a letter of support from Integris along with Dr. Keenan Ferguson and Dr. Kenan Kirkendall.

“It’s really something that we’re looking forward to,” Starkey said. “We really love to go to communities that want help, need help and really support our mission.”

For now, the organization is focused on finding a location and getting the center ready to open.

“Coming soon is about all we can say,” Starkey said.

To learn more visit: https://bphc.hrsa.gov/.../fundin.../new-access-points/awards. The association that supports community health centers in Oklahoma is the Oklahoma Primary Care Association, he said. For more information visit: okpca.org

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