Bucks County Health Improvement Partnership

Programs: Bucks county health improvement partnership (bchip) provided free healthcare to low-income, medically uninsured adult residents of bucks county through the operation of our adult health clinic in bensalem, pa. The clinic provided quality healthcare to 857 county residents who had no other source of ongoing medical care. The clinic operates using volunteer physicians and a core of paid professional staff. The majority of patients had one or more chronic illnesses, such as diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, heart disease and orthopedic issues. All patients lack the financial resources to pay for ongoing doctors' visits and medications. The clinic operates five days and two evenings per week, providing primary and chronic care, medication management, and social service referrals to eligible adults. In fy16, bchip clinic provided medical care to 857 unduplicated patients through 5,409 free clinic visits and 257 new patients were seen. In fy16, the clinic expanded its integrated physical & behavioral health initiative, a collaboration with family service association of bucks county (fsa). Clinic patients are screened for depression/anxiety and those in need of care are offered free on-site therapy sessions provided by an fsa licensed counselor. During the fiscal year there were 174 patients were screened and 270 counseling sessions were provided. Three hospitals in bucks county provide support for the clinic through financial contributions, donated space, free medicines, donated laboratory work, donated x-rays and other medical testing. Volunteers, including physicians, nurses, and non-medical support personnel, donated their services at the clinic as well.

the bchip children's dental program provides free dental care to children from low-income families that have no dental insurance. Children enrolled in the program live in upper bucks county and lower bucks county. Children needing dental care who reside in central bucks county use another provider. The children's dental program uses a partnership approach with the children being seen in participating community dentists' offices and on a mobile dental van provided by st. Luke's university hospital system. The dental van comes directly to schools in the quakertown area and students receive their dental care by appointments set by bchip's dental program coordinator. Bchip provides a stipend to community dentists to cover the cost of supplies and support staff time. Eleven community dentists participate in the dental program. In fy16, bchip's children's dental program provided care to 127 unduplicated children through 201 office dental visits. There were 152 additional dental visits using the st. Luke's dental van.

bchip has identified the reduction of cardiovascular disease through tobacco education and cessation programs countywide as one of its strategic priorities. Using money from tobacco cessation grants from pa department of health and the health promotion council, bchip held 29 smoking cessation classes throughout bucks county. All classes were provided free of charge to participants, who also received free nicotine replacement patches, gum or lozenges to assist them in their attempt to quit smoking. There were 204 attendees at these cessation classes; 123 participants completed the entire course and approximately 50% of participants successfully quit smoking or significantly reduced their tobacco use.