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Chamber covers city’s healthcare options
By Brandi Hart, McKinney Courier-Gazette
McKinney has numerous options for preventative, emergency, general health care and even cancer treatment for people who are insured throughout the various healthcare providers throughout McKinney.
Officials from the Medical Center of McKinney, Baylor Medical Center, the Methodist Health System, the McKinney Regional Cancer Center, E-Care, Primacare, and the Cooper Clinic at Craig Ranch briefly spoke about what services each entity provides at the McKinney Chamber of Commerce’s Good Morning McKinney breakfast on Friday.
Ernest Lynch III, president and chief executive officer of the Medical Center of McKinney, said the hospital has made numerous technological improvements. The Medical Center of McKinney is currently McKinney’s only full hospital. Its main campus is located at the southwest corner of Spur 399 and Medical Center Drive, and the Medical Center of McKinney’s Wysong Campus is at the southwest corner of Virginia Street and US 75. The Medical Center of McKinney paid a total of $1,506,110 in taxes in 2007, of which $302,042 was for the city of McKinney taxes and $29,085 was for Collin County taxes, Lynch said.
He also said that it’s very unique that Collin County has a population of 780,000 to 800,000 people yet the county does not have some kind of county hospital, and a universal, national health care system would deplete the positive things in the national health system. Collin County used to have a county hospital that served indigent people, or poor people, that was funded by county tax payers in the 1970s, but it was closed.
Stan Tatum of the Baylor McKinney Hospital, which should open in 2010 at the northwest corner of US 380 and Lake Forest Drive, said the first phase of the hospital will have be four to five stories but can be built up to 12 stories high. Baylor hopes to break ground on the site sometime in July or August of this year, and it will most likely take two years to build the hospital, which should open in 2010, Tatum said.
Leslie Bardin, who is the senior vice president of marketing for the Methodist Health Care System, said that a ground breaking ceremony will be from 4 to 6 p.m. on April 1 at the hospital site at the northwest corner of Stonebridge Drive and Eldorado Parkway. The hospital will open with 15 beds in late 2009 and the hospital, which will serve as a boutique-style hospital that will have obstetricians, an intensive care unit and cardiology doctors. The hospital is required by law to feature an emergency room, Bardin said.
The site plan shows three unidentified medical offices and two medical offices that will be built near the hospital site, Bardin said.
Dr. Dennis Birenbaum is the medical director of the McKinney Regional Cancer Center and said he chose to build in McKinney is because he worked with the McKinney Economic Development Corp. staff and board of directors and he was impressed with the city.
Birenbaum said that the center also treats people who do not have health insurance but people who have Medicaid and Medicare. In regards to a question asked by a chamber member about how to address the growing cost of healthcare, Birenbaum asked the 60 people that attended the forum to contact their congressmen about hospital groups or healthcare providers that are choosing to not treat patients who are Medicare patients due to the rising costs and lack of reimbursements being paid to the doctors by insurance and Medicare.
Jennifer Stephenson, who is the executive director of Primacare Medical Centers said the majority of people who are using the $20 co-pay at the clinic who are uninsured Collin County adults or who are under Collin County’s indigent health care program are mostly from McKinney.
Collin County Commissioners approved a $400,000 agreement in January of this year with Primacare centers in Collin County to provide low-cost and preventative health care for adults currently on the county’s indigent healthcare program. People who are uninsured, legal county residents and U.S. citizens, and who meet the requirements of the county’s indigent healthcare program, but who are not on the program may also qualify for low-cost preventative and primary care at Primacare.
To qualify, the patient must maintain a current and permanent legal residence in Collin County; be a U.S. citizen or a legal U.S. resident; be 18 years or older; have an annual income of or less than 100 percent of the national poverty level; must sign the Collin County Health Care Eligibility Form and a Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA release; not have any health insurance, such as private health insurance, Medicare, Medicaid or Children’s Health Insurance Program, or CHIP; and must pay a co-pay of $20.
The agreement does not pay for well-child visits or for children who are enrolled in the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP, Medicaid, or who have private insurance.
People do not need to schedule an appointment to see a physician at a Primacare facility, Stephenson said.
Dr. Robert Rankins, who is the owner and CEO of E-Care Emergency Centers, said the centers try to get patients in and out of their centers quickly. Because of the high numbers of people who are using E-Care Emergency Centers, Rankins may extend the hours of operation for the centers. The centers are open 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 1 to 10 p.m. on Sundays, but since most staff work until midnight the centers could stay open longer, Rankins said.
E-Care Emergency Centers try to provide care for all patients that walk through the door, even if they don’t have insurance, and provide services to children who are uninsured who are at the Collin County Children Advocacy Center, Rankins said.
Dr. Cameron Nelson of the Cooper Clinic at Craig Ranch said people should focus on their health, maintaining a healthy weight and be pro-active about their health as that will not only add years to their life, but it will improve their overall health.
He said that he’s very pleased that the Cooper Clinic at Craig Ranch has an emphasis on breast health and has hired a doctor who is a specialist in breast imaging, Nelson also said that most customers of the Cooper Clinic pay cash, some use health insurance, and that the clinic does not treat a lot of people who are uninsured or who would qualify for indigent health care.
Ricchi also mentioned that the volunteer-run Children and Community Health Clinic also treats children and adults who live in Northern Collin County who are unable to access healthcare services through the traditional fee-for-service delivery system. Patients must provide a picture ID, a utility bill showing a current address, and a statement of income.
For more information, visit the clinic at 120 South Central Expressway, Ste. 106 in McKinney or visit the group’s Web site www.cchc-vim.org.
The Collin County Healthcare Services offices also offers healthcare for people who are at 100 percent of the national poverty level or less who are legal US residents and who legally reside in Collin County through its Women, Infants and Children, or WIC program and indigent health program. The office is located at 825 N. McDonald St., which is also known as State Highway 5 in McKinney, just north of Smith Street. For more information, call 9720-548-5500 or visit Collin County’s Web site at www.co.collin.tx.us/healthcare.
Chamber member Robbie Clark said the Chamber is getting close to finalizing its health insurance plans for small businesses for chamber members. The chamber has worked on creating a health insurance plan for chamber members that have small businesses for the last two years, Clark said.
Contact staff writer Brandi Hart at hartb@acnpapers.com. To post comments online, access this story at www.scntx.com.
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