Orange County NC Website
Colleen Bridger distributed and reviewed a hand out. She said the first graph shows that <br />before closing the Southern Human Services Center clinic the average annual revenues were <br />300,000. She said after closing the dental clinic these numbers dropped off and have taken a <br />couple of years to return to baseline. She said the projections for this year's revenues are <br />425,000 to $450,000 with just one clinic in Hillsborough. <br />Colleen Bridger said the other key point is the number of patients they serve. She said this <br />number has increased by 912 patients from Fiscal Year 2009-2010 to Fiscal Year 2013-2014. She <br />said this is a sixty one percent increase. She said this is a real testament to the Dental Clinic staff. <br />Colleen Bridger said the amount of money received per patient is down, which means fewer <br />patients have insurance and are paying on a sliding scale. <br />Colleen Bridger said the question she gets a lot is what happened to those patients in the <br />southern portion of the County. She said more patients from the southern portion of the County <br />are being seen now than when there were two clinics. She added when the percentage of patients <br />is considered, the percentage of patients from the southern portion of the County is lower than it <br />was when there was a clinic there. <br />Colleen Bridger said the bottom line is that the consolidation was good for their Dental Clinic <br />and for determining how to deliver dental services efficiently and effectively. She said when the <br />Southern Human Services Center is expanded in the near future; she would like to see another <br />dental clinic in the facility. She said part of the consolidation involved going from a four operatory <br />clinic in Chapel Hill to an eight operatory clinic in Hillsborough. She said they are ready to expand <br />the number of staff in Hillsborough. She said there is a fairly long waiting list for non-emergency <br />adult patients. She said the Health Department's Budget request includes an additional Dental <br />Team. She said a good amount of the cost of the request is offset by additional revenues from <br />billing for those services. She said dental services in Hillsborough should be expanded this year <br />and there should be a plan for expansion in the next few years in the southern half of the County. <br />Commissioner Rich asked if more people are visiting the Clinic because they cannot afford <br />care elsewhere. <br />Colleen Bridger said there are two types of other dental facilities: private providers and <br />Piedmont Health Services. She said that the private dental offices are absolutely out of financial <br />reach for the patients of the Dental Clinic. She said that Piedmont Health Services are more <br />expensive than Orange County, but she does not think that this is part of the motivation but rather <br />that they have limited operatory clinics and thus very long wait lists. <br />Commissioner Burroughs asked if Piedmont is limited by space. <br />Colleen Bridger said yes. She added if a clinic is built by the County at the Southern <br />Human Services Center, perhaps Piedmont could staff and operate it. She said this idea would <br />solve Piedmont's space issues and the community's access issues. <br />Commissioner Jacobs asked if the Dental Clinic at the University of North Carolina (UNC) <br />continues to exist. <br />Colleen Bridger said yes, but the community is triaging patients that cannot be seen at the <br />County Dental Clinic to be seen by the UNC Dental Clinic. She said the UNC clinic is not seen as a <br />safety net dental provider but rather a safety net dental specialist. She said complicated cases are <br />referred to the UNC Dental Clinic. <br />Commissioner Jacobs recalled an award had been given and that congratulations were in <br />order for Dr. Bridger and Stacy Shelp for publicizing some aspect of public health. <br />Colleen Bridger said that Ms. Shelp created the wonderful annual report for the Health <br />Department. She said the report was submitted to the North Carolina City and County <br />Communicators (NC3C), and it was awarded first place. <br />Commissioner Price arrived at 6:27 p.m.