Julia Williams

Editor-in-Chief

In 1971, KC Care Health Center opened its first clinic in Westport, offering free, integrated services to the Kansas City community. 

Over the past five decades, KC Care has grown to serve over 20,000 patients each year across its three Jackson County clinics. With locations in Midtown (3515 Broadway Blvd, 3501/3507 Broadway Blvd.) and at Research Medical Campus (2340 E. Meyer Blvd.) the federally qualified health center expanded in 2017 — opening its newest facility in the Historic Northeast at 4601 Independence Ave.

The community health center took over this space from Dr. Elaine Joslyn — a Kansas City University Alumna — who operated her medical practice out of this location for over two decades before retiring. 

In taking over the building, KC Care additionally worked out an agreement to resume responsibility of Dr. Joslyn’s patients. This factor, which KC Care Health Center Chief Marketing and Development Officer Douglas “Doug” Day shared, has contributed to the Northeast location’s success by retaining employees who worked for Dr. Joslyn. 

And out of its three locations, one element that sets the Historic Northeast clinic apart, Day shared, is the culture. 

“Hands down, one of the reasons we enjoy serving the Northeast community is because of the ethnic diversity,” he said in an interview. 

In turn, the clientele KC Care receives at its Northeast location helps contribute to the organization’s overall mission, which includes serving every member of the community. 

“For us, we’ve always demonstrated the value of caring for all people, crossing lines for different communities, different ethnicities,” Day shared. “[KC Care] is for the entire community; it’s fundamental to the community health center movement.”

This passion of caring for all stems from the late 1960s and early 1970s during the 36th U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson’s “War on Poverty” initiatives — working to combat poverty and promote economic opportunity. The Community Health Center Movement was just one branch of this initiative, aimed to create health centers in community settings. 

While KC Care served most of its tenure as a part of the free health care movement, Day shared that in 2015, KC Care realized they could serve more people if the company changed its business model. 

Over the past decade, the organization transitioned from its free health center services, and now bills private insurance companies for services — including accepting patients with Medicaid and Medicare benefits.

However, for those who do not have insurance, Day clarified that KC Care will not turn those patients away from receiving services. 

“We’re designed to take care of people who don’t have insurance; that’s why community health centers were created and exist,” he said. 

As the clinics are federally funded, each location is required to ask patients for payment. However, this payment is based on a sliding scale determined by poverty level and household income, rather than a flat rate. 

Federal cuts to Medicaid — that are expected to trend upwards of $800 billion over the next 10 years, according to The Commonwealth Fund, a nonprofit, nonparisian health care promotion organization in New York — Day said that while not yet having an impact on KC Care patients, it is an element they are anticipating. 

“In the state of Missouri, it sounds like 150,000 to 200,000 Missourians may be impacted and could lose Medicaid coverage,” he shared. “This change doesn’t mean we won’t treat these patients, it just means they will need community health centers even more.”

For community health centers — and KC Care in particular — a principal component includes the ability for patients to receive a multitude of services under one roof. 

Some of the services offered at KC Care locations include – but are not limited to — primary care, dental services, behavioral health and a pharmacy for patients with discounted prescription costs for those eligible, among others.

When asked what the organization is most looking forward to, Day shared it is the renovation expansion at its Midtown location, which will include a new dental suite. 

This suite will feature 10 dental exam rooms — more than double its current dental capacity system-wide — and will allow staff to perform dental x-rays. Day mentioned that the only other location where KC Care offers dental care is at Research Medical Center and that by adding dental capacity closer to the center of the City, they hope to increase access to care. 

Another feature coming soon to its midtown location is a radiology wing. This will allow patients to receive x-ray’s, sonograms and mammograms, among others — a service, which is not currently offered at any KC Care locations. 

“If we have a patient who walks in, our only option is to refer them to University Health and they won’t have an appointment that day,” Day said. “Now, it may just take an hour for them to get an immediate answer.”

For additional information on KC Care — including its locations and offered services — visit: https://kccare.org/.