Community Health, BHS Team Up on North County Health Centers
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NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Community Health Programs and Berkshire Health Systems have announced that CHP has been awarded a two-year federal Health and Human Services grant to provide comprehensive primary-care services to the residents of Northern Berkshire.
This grant will allow for the more immediate sustainability of some existing primary-care services in Adams and North Adams, followed by the expansion of services to the residents of these communities over the next two years, particularly those without health insurance and Medicare and Medicaid/MassHealth beneficiaries.
This funding will allow for the development of a Federally Qualified Health Center in North Berkshire, with locations in Adams and North Adams.
"This grant recognizes not only that there is a real and growing need for preventive and primary-care services in Northern Berkshire County, but that the collaboration among organizations such as Berkshire Health Systems, Northern Berkshire Community Coalition, The Brien Center, and others is the key to successfully addressing the health challenges throughout the community," Bryan Ayars, CEO of CHP, said in a statement.
The new locations will incorporate two existing physician practices — Northern Berkshire Family Medicine and Adams Internists – which will join CHP and provide primary-care services for residents of North Berkshire. The health centers will operate at those current practice locations — at the Adams Internists on Depot Street in Adams and at the State Road site of Northern Berkshire Family Medicine until it relocates to the North Adams Campus of BMC later this fall.
"Expanding access to care for our community is a core commitment of Berkshire Health Systems, and our continuing partnership with CHP will provide enhanced stability for primary care for North Berkshire," said David Phelps, president and CEO of Berkshire Health Systems. "The new CHP location and FQHC model also enhances the ability to recruit new primary-care providers to North Berkshire, so that we can continue to provide this expanded access in the long-term."
Berkshire Health Systems is investing $600,000 in renovations to the Adams Internists building and the third floor of the North Adams Campus (the former North Adams Regional Hospital) to accommodate the new CHP locations.
While helping to stabilize primary-care services in North Berkshire, the new CHP locations will also be expanding care as CHP works to recruit new physicians to the region. the federal health center designation brings with it enhanced capabilities for physician recruitment that can help to attract new physicians.
Berkshire Health Systems and Community Health Programs have collaborated for many years on expanding access to care across the Berkshires, including jointly working on the development of CHP's Federally Qualified Health Centers in Great Barrington and Pittsfield. This latest partnership began in the days following the collapse of Northern Berkshire Healthcare, when BHS first stabilized its subsidiary Northern Berkshire Family Medicine. The two organizations then initiated an application for the federal access grant.
Tags: BHS, BMC North, CHP, health center,
