BRADENTON - One of the state's top health care leaders visited Bradenton Friday to meet with providers who help the under and un-insured.
The secretary of the Healthcare Administration, along with Representative Bill Galvano, toured this East Manatee Family Health Care Center. It's part of the Manatee County Rural Health Care Services, a non-profit organization, where she met with some local health care officials. They were here to highlight what's going on here that's good and to talk about some of the issues the facility is facing."
On the tour, secretary Holly Benson says she's impressed with some of the technology at the east manatee center. "It's pretty far ahead to be doing this kind of thing."
The Manatee County Rural Health Services has 18 centers on the Suncoast that provide medical services for the under-served communities. Last year, they had more than 300,000 patient visits. And because of the economy, they've seen a dramatic increase in the number of patients without insurance. "It's not just an indigent healthcare issue now, we're talking about working people who cannot afford insurance. We also know that mom and pop stores basically drive the economy and none of them can actually afford healthcare insurance," says Walter Presha, president and CEO.
George Van Buren is the medical director. He says the center's obstetricians helped deliver more than 2,300 babies last year in Manatee County. They also diverted more than 18,000 patients from jamming up local emergency rooms by sending them to one of their facilities, saving more than $6 million. And he says having visits like this helps validate what they do on a daily basis. "It gives us an opportunity to show off some of the things that we've been working on for a number of years to help with the process of the healthcare that we deliver."
The secretary called this organization the model for the state. She then went on to tour Blake Medical Center.
This visit also gave them a chance to talk to state leaders what they need. The dental director says they can see up to 15 patients a day. So they need dentists, because sometimes they have to turn people away.
