By William Jack
Special to The Laker/Lutz News
If you have a chronic condition like diabetes or hypertension and do not have health insurance, there are few affordable treatment options available. And without medical care, your medical condition will likely get worse.
This all-too-common scenerio is why Premier Community Health Care has established 10 convenient locations in Pasco and Hernando counties to provide affordable health care close to home for local residents who are uninsured or underinsured.
Premier’s Health Care services include family medicine for children and adults, dental care, behavioral health, women’s health care (including obstetrics), care coordination, case management and community outreach.
“Our mission is to provide accessible and comprehensive health care services for everyone, but we concentrate on the medically underserved, whether they are insured or not,” said Cheryl Pollock, chief development and communications officer for Premier. “For many patients, we are often the best and most affordable option.”
About 85 percent of Premier patients are either uninsured or on Medicaid, said Pollock. Premier uses sliding-scale fees to calculate its fees, and no one is turned away.
To receive discounted fees, patients must complete an application to prove household size and provide proof of income. If they qualify for a discounted fee, the cost for medical services is significantly lower than comparable private-sector care.
Premier also offers dental services at its clinics in Dade City, New Port Richey, Brooksville, Spring Hill, and in Holiday at its new portable clinic at Gulfside Elementary School.
“With so few employers offering dental insurance, and so few people carrying it, Premier is filling a big gap in our health care system,” said Pollock. “Sadly, tooth decay is the number one chronic illness facing children, and it is 99 percent preventable with routine oral hygiene and dental care.”
Premier also offers patient care coordination, providing primary care physicians and coordinating patient care with specialists, home health agencies, nursing homes, hospitals and other health care professionals. Plus, its answering service offers 24-hour access to a health care provider.
“We work closely with local hospitals to reduce the number of unnecessary emergency room visits by transitioning patients with chronic illnesses to our primary care clinics,” said Pollock. “Premier is better able to manage a patient’s medical conditions, and help prevent new ones.”
Preventative care is emphasized at Premier with free educational programs that range from oral health education to chronic disease and diabetes self-management. It hosts health fairs throughout the year, including Women’s Health Day with free cervical cancer screenings in January, Children’s Dental Day in February and Men’s Health Day in June.
“Our goal is to get people to recognize that health care is essential, and to be proactive in addressing some of the challenges they face as part of normal day-to-day life,” said Pollock.
Established in 1979, Premier is a community-based 501c3 nonprofit organization led by a patient-majority Board of Directors.
“This is a calling,” Pollock said. “Each team member is here because they choose to work in community health. They go above and beyond to ensure that patients are getting all the resources that are available.
“Your health is our mission’ is our tagline, and I personally live and breathe our mission. This is a calling for most of us at Premier, to be able to level the playing field between the haves and have nots to provide quality health care access for all.”
For more information, call (352) 518-2000, or visit www.premierhc.org.
Published 9/5/18
