JEFFERSONVILLE — For more than 50 years, LifeSpring Health Systems has provided mental health and substance abuse treatment to the Southern Indiana community.
Now and for the first time ever, it will begin to offer primary “cradle to grave” health care services at a new clinic funded by a federal grant.
The cumulative $1.35 million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services deems LifeSpring a federally qualified health center.
This allows LifeSpring to see underinsured and uninsured patients at little or no cost by receiving higher reimbursements for Medicare and Medicaid billed services. Cost is determined by a sliding fee scale based on patients’ income.
“So we will be seeing people regardless of their ability to pay,” Keeney said. “It’s phenomenal.”
The grant lasts for two years, and LifeSpring would have to re-apply for the grant every year to continue receiving funds afterward.
The clinic will be located at the Integrated Treatment Center on Sharon Drive in Jeffersonville staffed with a primary care physician and two nurse practitioners.
Keeney said the clinic is in the hiring process and must have its doors open by August 30 per grant stipulations.
LifeSpring has 15 facilities in Clark, Floyd, Harrison, Jefferson, Scott and Washington counties and serves 7,000 people each year. Keeney predicts that the new health care clinic will see 3,000 patients in two years.
It will also allow many of LifeSpring’s current patients to receive more integrated, across-the-board care.
“We know that health care isn’t just below or above the neck,” Keeney said.
Those with serious mental illnesses on average die 25 years sooner than most, Keeney said. Some of LifeSpring’s clients have self-limiting behaviors that restrict them from seeking medical care.
“We think that we’re in a unique place with our population specifically to be able to begin addressing that,” she said.
LifeSpring’s clinic will also be able to address medical care for the homeless, as the grant comes with specific dollars to reach that population.
Keeney said the clinic may have mobile services to bring health care to the street homeless because transportation is often a barrier.
Staff will also partner with LifeSpring’s PATH, or Projects for Assistance in Transition from Homelessness, Program that builds relationships with homeless people to help them receive mental illness or substance abuse services.
Paul Stensrud, director for Jesus Cares at Exit 0 which is a Jeffersonville-based homeless service provider, said he didn’t know much about LifeSpring’s new clinic yet.
“I’m all for it, as long as [there are] no stipulations,” Stensrud said. “That’s what’s going to get you.”
In order for LifeSpring’s clinic to work out for the homeless population, Stensrud said staffers will have to be flexible and communicative. For example, he said patients shouldn’t be denied services if they’ve missed a certain number of appointments.
Understanding and leniency is how a partnership between Exit 0 and Family Health Centers of Southern Indiana, another Jeffersonville federally qualified health center, has been successful.
“They understand that these guys don’t have alarm clocks, they don’t have transportation,” Stensrud said.
Family Health Centers planned to apply for the same grant to open a Henryville clinic that LifeSpring received, but building plans fell through last minute, CEO Lori Harris said in an email. Officials with Family Health Centers still hope to expand their services, Harris said.
Stensrud said he hopes LifeSpring won’t just duplicate services in the community.
“We’ll just have to see what happens when it pans out and work out the kinks,” he said.
Keeney said that Family Health Centers does “an amazing job.”
“They provide great services, and we certainly hope to collaborate with them on some projects and work closely with them,” she said.