About Clinica Family Health & Wellness
Clinica Family Health & Wellness is a community non-profit organization that came about as a result of a merger between two long-serving non-profit health care providers and partners- Clinica Family Health and Mental Health Partners.
With this merger, Clinica Family Health & Wellness is well-positioned to build upon our proud shared history and vision for years to come. We recognize the power we can have together – strengthening access to integrated, whole-person care for our clients will improve health outcomes and enable us to have a greater impact. The merger of the entities of Clinica and Mental Health Partners enabled both of our organizations to continue to thrive, and most importantly, serve the underserved in our communities. Both Clinica and Mental Health Partners faced significant financial challenges and pressures because of changes to Medicaid, unpredictable federal and state revenue streams, the growing uninsured patients, and rising costs in health care. While the merger itself does not solve these challenges, it allows us to combine our resources and ultimately expand access to high quality healthcare for the populations we serve. The merger allows us to be truly evolve toward a whole-person and patient-centered model.
Clinica Family Health & Wellness is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. A 501(c)(3) is a non-profit entity formed for charity purposes that is exempt from certain tax laws. Many 501(c)(3)s, like Clinica Family Health & Wellness, are dependent on donor funds and grants to do things other “for-profit” businesses can afford – such as providing certain services, maintaining buildings, and maintaining operational systems. Often, these grants are provided for a specific purpose, and the money gifted cannot be used for other purposes (such as wages or bonuses). Grants are a key part of Clinica’s operations and help maintain 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status. You can read the DDE here.
How Does a Non-Profit Merger Work – And Why We Chose This Path Forward
When two nonprofit companies like Clinica and Mental Health Partners merge, it is a process that combines the two into one. Unlike a private business merger, there is no “purchase” and Clinica did not “buy” or “acquire” Mental Health Partners. Both our volunteer boards of directors decided that to create the best future for each organization, we should join together. Clinica is now known as the ”surviving entity”- meaning that it was Clinica’s legal organizational status that remained. The reason the merger was structured this way was because Clinica’s designation as a Federally Qualified Health Center needed to be maintained to retain important benefits such as: (i) annual Federal Grant funding, (ii) FTCA malpractice insurance, and (iii) access to programs like the 340b Federal Drug Discount program.
What is a Federally Qualified Health Center?
A Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC), more commonly known as a Community Health Center (CHC), is a non-profit organization that offers comprehensive primary preventative health care services. By design, CHCs are patient-directed, with the majority of volunteer board members being consumers (patients and clients) of the organization. Simply put, CHCs exist to serve those who have limited access to healthcare. Unlike most private practices, CHCs welcome low-income individuals, the uninsured, and the underinsured. CHCs provide preventive services to vulnerable populations that would otherwise not have access to healthcare services. CHCs function under the supervision of the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), a division of the United States Federal Department of Health and Human Services.
CHCs provide services to all individuals, regardless of ability to pay, offering a Sliding Fee Discount Scale to eligible patients. This scale is Board-approved, and discounts are based on patient income and family size. FQHCs must also comply with Section 330 program requirements, as monitored by HRSA.
In return for meeting all these requirements, FQHCs receive support from the federal government to support specific operational needs such as: cost-based reimbursement for Medicaid patients, malpractice coverage under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), eligibility for the 340b Federal Drug Discount Program, eligibility for the Vaccines for Children (VFC) program, and eligibility for state and federal loan repayment programs.
Because of FQHC / CHC and non-profit status, we rely on donor funds to be able to complete projects – such as new buildings or parking lots. We have been lucky to secure donations for some sites and we are always looking for ways to expand those opportunities.