KCHC eyes expansion due to growing number of patients

The Kagman Community Health Center is looking to expand its facilities due to its increasing number of patients, according to board chair Velma Palacios. However, there is no specific timeframe on when the expansion will occur.

“Our goal is to expand our services, basically expand KCHC, because there are so many patients there is no place to sit, especially on a Saturday. We also want to expand to different areas on Saipan,” Palacios said.

“Hopefully we can also expand to Rota and Tinian because everyone deserves the best health care. It is a shame that we continue to go off-island,” she added.

Lt. Gov. Ralph DLG Torres earlier said the administration of Gov. Eloy S. Inos is planning to open community health centers on Rota and Tinian.

Since KCHC opened in April 2013, the number of people who have availed of its services has increased exponentially. KCHC served 693 patients in its first year of operation. This doubled to about 1,338 patients in 2014. The total since then has reached about 4,008 visits, according to Palacios.

“Even within that two-year period our numbers had doubled and majority of our patients are on Medicaid,” she said.

Out of the 1,338 patients served last year, about 938 were on Medicaid, 196 were uninsured, 178 used private insurance, and 26 were under Medicare.

Palacios said the Kagman center gets 100 percent reimbursement from Medicaid.

“That’s why we encourage those under Medicaid to come out here and use the center. It benefits everybody and it is a win-win situation. We serve patients from all over the island and it is not exclusively for Kagman residents only; it’s for the island,” she said.

Palacios noted that KCHC serves patients of all ages. The largest group of KCHC patients in 2014 was within the ages of 0 to 14, with about 674 served. The next is 18 to 64 years old, which totaled 618.

“The numbers are growing because we are making a difference. The community has access to primary care services close by and we want to see the community take advantage of that. We want the increase in numbers of our services to the community,” she said.

KCHC provides outreach programs to schools, visits other community organizations in the area, and have done sports physicals. Palacios said they plan to work with Kagman schools since all of them have no nurses.

KCHC executive director Vince Castro said the three-year grant they got would help with KCHC services and expansion plans. They received $875,000 this year; that will go up to $918,000 in the next two years.

“This includes running KCHC, supplies, and our staffs. Last year we had two additional grants and added staffs. We added two for outpatient enrollment where we help patients apply for Medicaid. What this means now is that we can actually sit down and work on our strategic plan for the future and hopefully we can grow our patient census next year,” he said.