JPS Community Clinics

Abstract

Objective: Approximately 41 million Americans are thought to be living in poverty which includes 21% of all children and 12% of adults and translates into 291,534 individuals in Tarrant County. Low-income individuals often lack access to the most basic primary health care services, including women’s health, pediatric services, and basic dental care. This project was undertaken to identify the safety net of community-based healthcare for people living in poverty in Tarrant County. Materials and Methods: The following JPS community clinic resources were identified using TarrantCares.org, Tarrant County 211 websites, the JPS website, and visits to the JPS main hospital and Viola Pitts/Como Community Health Center. Results: This led us to identify the most significant nonprofit primary health care resources provided by the Tarrant County Hospital District, JPS Health Network, which includes comprehensive community health clinics as well as school-based clinics. Careful consideration of the community clinic capacities, eligibility requirements, and overall barriers to care experienced by individuals suggests the JPS community clinics are providing a much-needed healthcare service in Tarrant County. JPS continuously adapts to the changing needs of the underserved community by delivering culturally competent care to very diverse patient populations and by implementing the community needs assessment and improvement plan. Additionally, JPS trains its workforce to deliver patient education for self-management of chronic conditions such as hypertension and diabetes. Conclusions: JPS Health Network provides broad medical coverage for persons in poverty and for persons without adequate access to health care in Tarrant County through the JPS community clinics. Room for improvement in health coverage was identified as the need for increased access to care for persons with behavioral health issues, the need for expansion of school-based clinics, new and improved modalities for patient education, and further reduction of preventable ED visits.