Community Health Center Snapshots Profile Impact of Medicaid Documentation Requirement:  EASTERN SHORE RURAL HEALTH, VIRGINIA

Nearly half of the 50,000 residents of the Eastern Shore region of Virginia receive their health care from the Eastern Shore Rural Health Center. The health center serves more than 24,000 patients annually, with 73,000 medical encounters and 8,500 dental encounters Approximately 48 percent of the health centers patients are White/non-Latino, 14 percent are Hispanic/Latino, and 37 percent are African-American. Approximately 19 percent are enrolled in Medicaid, and 29 percent are uninsured. The health center is a key part of the Eastern Shore Peninsula safety net. In addition to the care provided at the center’s five sites, the health center’s staff serves as the area’s pediatric hospitalists and provide care to residents of two nursing homes, as well as at two school-based dental centers.

Over the past year, the center has seen an up-tick in its uninsured patients (an increase of 260 patients). Nancy Stern, the CEO of Eastern Shore Rural Health, notes that while the center has maintained a strong relationship with the Department of Medical Assistance Services, its rural population has been experiencing particular challenges: “The documentation requirements have impacted the people who actually live here. There still is a generation that was birthed at home and that just doesn’t have all of that information to meet the requirements. Additionally there has been a noticeable impact on the Hispanic/Latino population.” To continue providing a high level of care to their patients, Eastern Shore Rural Health employs outreach workers to overcome the hurdles. Stern notes, “All our centers open their doors to everyone. We see people no matter what.”