It can be hard for Pennsylvania’s rural Medicaid patients to find a doctor to care for them.
Low Medicaid reimbursement has forced many physicians to limit the number of Medicaid patients that they see or stop seeing them altogether.
That’s why rural health centers like Cambridge Springs Health Center are so vital.
“Rural health centers provide quality care for the people who would normally fall through the cracks,” says office manager Bella Harriger.
Cambridge Springs Health Center is the newest of Crawford County’s four rural health centers, which are run by Meadville Medical Center as part of its mission to care for everyone in its service area regardless of their ability to pay. The medical center also provides some financial assistance to its rural health centers.
“We’re now expanding and picking up patients, so we’re a growing practice,” Harriger said.
Practices must meet strict requirements to receive the rural health center designation through a federal program that works to increase primary care access for rural Medicare and Medicaid patients.
For practices that become rural health centers, the reward is sufficient reimbursement to continue treating Medicare and Medicaid patients.
For patients, the reward is knowing they can always find someone to take care of them.
“They will always be accepted here,” Harriger says.
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