Health care provider opens expanded clinic in Bedford
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In late 2022, Paoli-based Southern Indiana Community Health Care announced it was opening new clinics in Lawrence County to fill a gap in services created by the closure of Ascension Dunn Hospital and several Ascension Medical Group practices.
The new clinics, located in Bedford and Mitchell, were designed to provide obstetrics and family primary care services for residents.
On Tuesday, the not-for-profit Federally Qualified Health Center, along with industry and government partners, cut the ribbon on an expanded clinic in Bedford, which CEO Nancy Radcliff said has been a huge relief to staff members.
“We initiated the location, of course, in Bedford at a temporary site, because we knew with the wraparound services that an FQHC focuses on, the current location that was available under Ascension as a lease holder did not have the adequate square footage to expand services,” Radcliff said. “So we had to make a lot of adjustments working in a small office space with four providers.”
The original, temporary space was about 4,200 square feet. The new location, located at 629 Lincoln Plaza in Bedford, is about 7,800 square feet. Radcliff said she believes it’s the first time that a health care facility has been located on the north side of town, which provides many benefits.
“It’s walkable. It’s close to food access with the local grocery store. There’s also a food kitchen that is available within walking distance. We’re close to housing,” she said. “That walkability is one of our focuses as an organization. Transportation is a barrier for a lot of patients, and we’re hopeful that being in the heart of the community creates an opportunity to improve access.”
In October 2022, Missouri-based Ascension announced it would close Dunn Hospital in Bedford and nine Ascension Medical Group practices in Lawrence County.
Dr. Yolanda Yoder, chief medical officer for Southern Indiana Community Health Care, told Inside INdiana Business in December that the organization was setting up shop in Lawrence County due to a major concern over the loss of OB services in the community.
“That especially was a huge hit to the community to lose their only delivery location there, and since we do deliveries down here, we thought it would be a helpful thing to provide a space for women who needed a place to go,” Yoder said.
Since that time, the organization has worked with Indiana University Health Bedford Hospital, Indiana Health Centers and the city of Bedford to maintain continuity of care for patients.
“The alternative could have been a challenging one for our community, as the availability of quality health care represents a critical service to the community that attracts and helps retain critical workforce,” Shance Sizemore, CEO of the Lawrence County Growth Council said in a news release. “We at the Bedford Chamber and the Growth Council applaud the three health care groups for stepping up and working together to sustain health care services.”
Radcliff said the organization spent the first 90 days coordinating prescription refills for patients that had not yet been onboarded. Bringing those patients on proved to be another challenge due to the circumstances of the transition.
“As you can imagine, every patient coming into our system was new,” she said. “Despite that the provider and patients were familiar with each other, their health information and access to that was not immediately available. Because we didn’t directly purchase the entire practice, we weren’t permitted to have access to those records unless it was an individual release from the patient directly.”
To date, Radcliff says the organization has onboarded about 2,500 patients, with more coming on each day.
The new clinic in Bedford will see OB patients until 26 to 30 weeks of their pregnancy, at which point, they can choose to receive delivery services at nearby IU Health facilities in Paoli, at IU Health Bloomington Hospital, or Schneck Medical Center in Seymour.
Part of the transition included hiring Jody Rhorer, a former obstetrics nurse at Dunn Hospital, who now serves as an OB outreach program manager. In her role, Rhorer makes sure that whichever facility is providing delivery services has the patient’s medical record documentation while also maintaining communication with the patient.
The new Bedford clinic is also located near the Hope Resource Center, a pregnancy care center and medical clinic that provides free pregnancy testing, among other services.
Looking ahead, Radcliff said the organization is working to bring on additional mental health services at the Bedford clinic, which is part of its goals as a Federally Qualified Health Center.
“That’s one of the attributes that an FQHC has is because you can have those wraparound services at one location, and it really improves access for patients and it lowers barriers, because patients aren’t as concerned about accessing mental health stigma is reduced because it’s on site,” she said. “We’ve seen a decrease in no shows at our other locations. So we expect the same there at Bedford and Mitchell.”
Southern Indiana Community Health Care was founded nearly 50 years ago and received Federally Qualified Health Center status in 2017. The organization operates clinics in Crawford, Lawrence, Orange and Washington counties.