CHP Eyes Opening North Adams Health Center

Philip Morrison, left, chief financial officer for Community Health Programs, talks to Northern Berkshire Community Coalition Executive Director Al Bashevkin on Friday.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Another silver lining in the black cloud of health care in Northern Berkshire County emerged on Friday.

Philip Morrison, chief financial officer of Community Health Programs, said CHP is exploring the idea of opening a Federally Qualified Health Center in North Adams.

CHP, which has 22 doctors and 130 total employees, is headquartered in Great Barrington and has a facility in Pittsfield as well.

Morrison told a group of about 50 people gathered for the Northern Berkshire Community Coalition's monthly meeting that CHP had tried to start discussions with the former North Adams Regional Hospital five years ago about opening such a center but their advances had been rejected.

In light of the closure of the hospital, Morrisson said, CHP has started the discussion again, this time with Berkshire Health Systems, and is now "gathering feedback" about the possibilities.

According to CHP's website, a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) is more commonly known as a Community Health Center (CHC) and is a primary care center that is community-based and patient-directed. By mission and design, CHCs exist to serve those who have limited access to health care although all are welcome. Unlike most private practices, CHCs welcome low-income individuals, the uninsured and underinsured, immigrants, migrant and seasonal farm workers, those who are homeless, and those who live in public housing.

FQHCs are locally based nonprofit organizations governed by a board of directors comprised of area volunteers. At FQHCs, payment is based on ability to pay.

Morrison said there were 1,100 FQHCs in the country, 51 in Massachusetts and only one in Berkshire County — CHP. Having this designation gives CHP some channels of federal funding as well as enhanced reimbursements for Medicare and Medicaid patients, an issue that has been cited as a factor in the closure of North Adams Regional Hospital.

Morrison said the idea behind the center is to provide primary care to residents so that a hospital is not providing that service.

"We can provide primary care more efficiently than the hospital," he said.

Morrison said the process to open a FHQC is a difficult one that has to travel through many bureaucratic channels, but he said he thought a North Adams center could open within a year.

That news was welcomed by Al Bashevkin, NBCC's executive director.

"It's great to hear it's likely," he said. "That's a sustainable model."

Cost, Access to NBCTC High Among Concerns North Berkshire Residents

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
06:15PM / Thursday, April 25, 2024

Adams Select Chair Christine Hoyt, NBCTC Executive Director David Fabiano and William Solomon, the attorney representing the four communities, talk after the session. 

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Public access channels should be supported and made more available to the public — and not be subject to a charge.

 

More than three dozen community members in-person and online attended the public hearing  Wednesday on public access and service from Spectrum/Charter Communications. The session at City Hall was held for residents in Adams, Cheshire, Clarksburg and North Adams to express their concerns to Spectrum ahead of another 10-year contract that starts in October.

 

Listening via Zoom but not speaking was Jennifer Young, director state government affairs at Charter.

 

One speaker after another conveyed how critical local access television is to the community and emphasized the need for affordable and reliable services, particularly for vulnerable populations like the elderly. 

 

"I don't know if everybody else feels the same way but they have a monopoly," said Clarksburg resident David Emery. "They control everything we do because there's nobody else to go to. You're stuck with with them."

 

Public access television, like the 30-year-old Northern Berkshire Community Television, is funded by cable television companies through franchise fees, member fees, grants and contributions.

 

Spectrum is the only cable provider in the region and while residents can shift to satellite providers or streaming, Northern Berkshire Community Television is not available on those alternatives and they may not be easy for some to navigate. For instance, the Spectrum app is available on smart televisions but it doesn't include PEG, the public, educational and governmental channels provided by NBCTC.