Increase in patients brings on expansions for SEMO Health Network

With a dramatic spike in unemployment rates in the six Bootheel counties served by SEMO Health Network, Cheryl White says that demand for health care services for low-income patients means a corresponding increase in business for her organization.

White is chief executive officer of the New Madrid-based not-for-profit organization that operates medical and dental clinics in New Madrid, Sikeston, Bernie, Portageville and Kennett, serving Dunklin, Mississippi, New Madrid, Pemiscot, Scott and Stoddard counties. White says the company's mission is "to provide a health care home for every individual regardless of their ability to pay." Patients of SEMO Health Network pay for services on a sliding scale, according to their income levels.

As recently as 2007, the organization saw 15,000 patients a year, with 24 percent paying reduced fees on the sliding scale program. The patient load for 2009 jumped to about 17,000, White said, and so has the number of those needing help with the normal charges for services.

"The sliding fee population has increased to 31 percent due to unemployment increases and economic failings," White said. "An enormous amount of the patients who qualify for sliding scale are working-class families who cannot afford the insurance offered to them at their place of employment."

While all counties in the network service area have been affected by the economic downturn, Dunklin and Pemiscot counties have been hit especially hard. Jobless rates for those counties in October were at 10.5 and 11.1 percent, respectively. SEMO Health Network uses government grants to help subsidize its low-income patients, with a third of its operating budget coming from state and federal funds, White said. The remaining revenue is generated through Medicaid, Medicare and insurance patients. The company expanded its medical and dental clinics in Sikeston in June, part of a growth plan which the network hopes will include wellness facilities such as fitness centers as all its locations. Its first fitness center opened in New Madrid County in 2008.