Hudson River Healthcare

Grant Status

Completed

Project Title

Yonkers Health Access Project

Award Amount

$250,000

Location

Manhattan

Website

http://www.hrhcare.org/index.html

Date Awarded

April 24, 2009

For more than 33 years, Hudson River HealthCare (HRHCare) has provided innovative programs and comprehensive, culturally competent services to meet the needs of at-risk populations in the Hudson Valley. HRHCare began in 1975 in downtown Peekskill, one of the area’s poorest cities. Since then, HRHCare has expanded to 14 primary care sites, now serving 50,000 people annually throughout a nine-county region (Westchester, Dutchess, Putnam, Columbia, Ulster, Orange, Rockland, Sullivan, and Suffolk) of southeastern New York State. As a federally qualified health center (FQHC), care is provided to all who seek it regardless of insurance status or ability to pay.

Yonkers—the largest city in Westchester County and the fourth largest city in New York State—is faced with the potential loss of primary care services. The vast majority of Yonkers’ low-income individuals lack any health insurance, third party coverage, or resources to pay for increasingly expensive health care. In addition, there is a dearth of physicians willing to accept uninsured or Medicaid patients, and even fewer who offer a sliding fee scale.

HRHCare will take over and operate the Valentine Lane centers as an addition to its FQHC network. This acquisition will allow HRHCare to purchase the sites, consolidate primary care services, operate the facilities at full capacity, and add services such as translation and care management. HRHCare has a track record of acquiring other hospital-operated ambulatory care centers in both urban and rural settings and restructuring them as FQHCs to meet the needs of underserved communities. Designation of the Valentine Lane sites as FQHCs will enable them to receive higher reimbursement rates and achieve sustainability.