FQHC Remains Elusive

by Amy Kolb Noyes

While details have yet to be released from the federal government, local
healthcare officials have learned Copley Professional Services Group's
latest application to become a Federally Qualified Healthcare Center has
been denied. This is the third application round in which the CPSG
application has not been funded. Copley officials have filed under the
federal Freedom of Information Act to obtain details of this latest
decision.
Copley Health Systems Director of Planning and Marketing Peter Wright
said CPSG is waiting for feedback on the application before deciding how
to proceed. Options include keeping the system as it now exists,
pursuing provider-based Rural Health Clinic status, reapplying in the
next FQHC application round or pursuing "FQHC look alike status."
Wright explained CPSG would have to spin off from Copley Health Systems
and become its own entity before applying for look alike status. That
process would also have occurred under FQHC, but grant money would have
helped facilitate the separation. There is no grant money associated
with the look alike status. However, CPSG would continue to be eligible
to apply for FQHC even if granted look alike status.
While the FQHC application process is highly competitive, look alike
status is awarded to all applicants meeting the criteria. CPSG
considered applying for look alike status after the last failed FQHC
application round, but decided to pursue FQHC after learning its
application earned a high score and was actually recommended for
funding, only to be turned down in the final step of the process.
Wright commented on the decision to pursue FQHC for a third time noting,
"We thought that our score was so close that we'd have a good
opportunity to get it." However, Wright added, the field of applicants
in this last round was much larger than expected.
Under both FQHC and FQHC look alike, Copley's primary care practices,
grouped as CPSG, would spin off from Copley Health Systems and operate
with their own governing structure. The CPSG practices include
Morrisville Family Health Care, Stowe Family Practice, Women's Center at
Copley and Copley's Department of Behavioral Medicine.
The CPSG practices, under both FQHC and look alike, would receive
"cost-based reimbursement" from the federal government for Medicaid and
Medicare patients. Wright said that higher level of reimbursement would
translate into an annual savings between $500,000 and $600,000.
The federal 340B drug program would also be available locally under
either FQHC or look alike. Under that program, prescription drugs are
made available at the lowest prices in the country.
What does not come with look alike status is a $650,000 annual grant,
according to Wright.