Fighting a Hidden Disease
Chronic kidney disease, or CKD, starts out small and silent, but over time it can develop into an expensive, incurable and life-threatening condition. The disease is the ninth leading killer of Missourians and becomes more common every year.
That’s why local doctors at ACCESS Family Care have joined the nonprofit Primaris in an effort to improve treatment and screening for those at high risk of developing CKD.
“CKD is the slow, progressive loss of kidney function. It begins with hidden symptoms and gradually increases in severity. Eventually the kidneys fail and they cannot remove waste from the body. It slowly poisons the patient.” said Dr. Charles Bentlage, Medical Director of ACCESS Family Care.
The disease progresses in five stages. The damage done during each stage cannot be repaired, but early treatment can help delay or prevent the disease from advancing to the next stage.
The final stage is complete failure of the kidneys and can only be treated through dialysis or a kidney transplant.
ACCESS Family Care is ramping up screenings for patients at high risk for developing CKD. This includes those diagnosed with high blood pressure and those living with diabetes, the two main culprits behind CKD.
The work is in coordination with Primaris, a nonprofit that serves as Missouri’s official Medicare Quality Improvement Organization.
ACCESS Family Care is in a select group. Physicians in only 10 states have been given the opportunity to participate in this program with their states’ Medicare Quality Improvement Organization, meeting this urgent need to slow CKD.
The project is funded through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
ACCESS Family Care (ACCESS), formerly Ozark Tri-County Health Care Consortium, was founded in 1996 as a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) for the purpose of increasing access to primary health care for those who lack medical insurance coverage. As an FQHC, ACCESS receives a 330 Federal grant from the Bureau of Primary Health Care designed to offset the expenses associated with providing sliding fee discounts to patients who demonstrate economic need.
ACCESS Family Care—Anderson, formerly the Mary Ann Bradley Medical Clinic, with both medical and dental services is located at 927 N. Business 71 Anderson. It’s open Monday through Friday 8:00 AM-5:00 PM with late hours until 7:00 PM on Tuesdays and can be reached at 417-845-8300. The dental clinic is located in the same building with the same hours, except they close at 2:00 on Fridays, and can be reached at 417-845-2273.
ACCESS Family Care—Cassville, formerly the James D. Warn Community Clinic, is located at 1101 Main Street Cassville, and can be reached at 417-847-0057. The clinic is open Monday through Friday 8:00 AM-5:00 PM with late hours until 7:00 PM on Tuesdays.
ACCESS Family Care—Joplin with medical, pediatrics, and dental combined in one location is located at 530 S. Maiden Lane. The hours there are Monday through Friday from 8:00 AM until 5:00 PM and late hours until 7:00 PM on Tuesdays. For medical appointments call 417-782-6200 and for dental appointments call 417-782-0080.
ACCESS Family Care’s administrative offices are located at 4301 Doniphan Drive in Neosho, Missouri, and the phone number is 417-451-9450.
“One of the special characteristics of community health centers is that they create access to healthcare for the poor and language minority. We are doing a good job with that at ACCESS,” comments Chief Executive Officer Don McBride.
Last year, ACCESS served a total of 11,004 patients which is an increase of over 250% since 2001. 44% were uninsured, 43% were Medicaid recipients, and less than 4% were Medicare patients. “We’ve seen phenomenal growth as we have responded to the immense primary care needs in southwest Missouri. We have a vision to continue to expand and work with area hospitals and dentists to continue to provide these much-needed services to the uninsured and underinsured,” adds McBride.
About Primaris
Primaris is a nonprofit, health care consulting firm and contracts with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to serve as the Quality Improvement Organization for Missouri. Primaris’ mission is to improve health care delivery and outcomes by promoting excellence, advancing knowledge and developing innovative solutions for physicians, other providers, businesses, government, patients and consumers.