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Priority Issues
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Save the Safety Net
Access to Care

1.  Create a Stable Funding Base for Safety Net Infrastructures

Background:

Community health centers are locally-owned, non-profit health care providers serving low income and medically underserved communities. They provide high-quality, comprehensive, and affordable primary care and preventative services. Also known as Federally-Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), they are located in areas where health care is needed but scarce, thus ensuring thousands of Nevadans are able to access the services they need, regardless of their insurance status or ability to pay. The FQHC program has been proven to be one of the most cost-effective methods to address the nations looming health care crisis, as they reduce emergency room visits and decrease the need for more expensive in-patient and specialty care, thus resulting in significant savings for hospitals, government entities, and local taxpayers.  

FQHCs are part of a federal program, and the growing national deficit has led to an ongoing threat of cuts in federal programs and grants. Given that Nevada’s health centers rely heavily on Medicaid and the federal government to fill in their financial gaps and that there is a considerable lack of local monetary support for the clinics, we can expect the health centers to begin facing a significant financial strain. Even without any major cuts, as the second fastest growing state in the country, Nevada’s current community health center system cannot even begin to meet the needs of our 450,000 uninsured residents because they simply do not have the resources to do so.  

Until Nevada’s community health centers have the financial means to expand and increase their patient capacity, uninsured Nevadans are going to continue using the Emergency Room as their primary health care provider. Private physicians already have a full patient load and those with openings very seldom accept Medicaid patients, so the only place left is the ER. This ends up costing the state and the taxpayers much more money than if we would have instead invested in sending that person to a community health center.  

It is time for Nevada to begin financially supporting our community health centers and other health care programs that have been proven to increase access to health care while significantly reducing costs for everyone in the state. It just makes sense. 

Challenges:

Proposed Solutions:

Nevada’s FQHCs are currently only able to serve a fraction of Nevada’s underserved population simply because they do not have the necessary resources to expand, as it costs between $500,000 to $2.5 million to renovate or build a new health clinic. Numerous studies have found that the presence of a health center has been associated with a reduction in unnecessary emergency room use and leads to improved health outcomes and lower incidence of chronic disease and disability. If Nevada were to invest in expanding health centers to serve more uninsured individuals, the savings in reduced emergency room use alone would more than repay the investment. Whether it is through the services patients receive or the reduced government expenditures shared by all taxpayers, FQHCs greatly benefit almost all Nevadans. Investing in our community health centers is a wise decision that will save the state money while ensuring that more people are receiving the health care they need.  

Increasing access to primary care services is only the first step in addressing Nevada’s health care crisis, as quite often, those patients then need to be referred to specialty care services for more in-depth care. Nevada is fortunate to have two successful, cost-effective pilot projects that address this need for specialty care services. These programs consist of comprehensive networks of primary, specialty, and ancillary health care providers offering their services to uninsured members at a significantly reduced fee. This model increases primary care appointments, thus reducing Emergency Room visits and costs. Additionally, it teaches low-income working families to take ownership of their health care while ensuring that physicians get paid at the time of service. Currently, the programs are operating under very limited budgets that will not be able to sustain them for much longer. Given that these programs have endless potential to help thousands of Nevadans at reduced costs, it is important for the state help make the programs sustainable by financially supporting them.

 Included Benefits: