Oklahoma has an efficient way to make sure everyone has health care… if we choose to fund it

We’ve written before about why Oklahoma’s federally-qualified community health centers (FQHCs) are a foundation of our health care safety net. FQHCs have to meet very specific criteria: they have to reach an underserved area or population, provide comprehensive services, have an ongoing quality assurance program, and offer a sliding fee scale, among others.

Now, a new study in the American Journal of Public Health proves just how important they are. Comparing data from FQHC and non-FQHC patients over 13 states, researchers found that FQHC patients had lower health care use and spending than their non-FQHC counterparts. In fact, overall spending was 24 percent lower for FQHC patients. This is important news for Oklahoma, where 20 FQHCs with more than 90 locations provided health care to more than 184,000 people in 2015, 7 in 10 of whom were in poverty (earning less than $20,000 per year for a family of three). One in three were uninsured, and one in three were children.

FQHCs are funded by a wide range of payers, from private insurers to Medicaid to patients handing over cash. The Uncompensated Care Fund is a very small part of this puzzle — but FQHCs operate on very slim margins, with much of their budgets going to pay essential staff salaries. When funding wobbles, there’s very little that they can sacrifice without directly touching patient care. That’s a shame, because the care they provide is so very cost-effective, as the recent study shows.

Aside from increasing support of the Uncompensated Care Fund, there are other measures lawmakers can take to support FQHCs. More than 30 percent of patients seen by Oklahoma FQHCs in 2015 were Medicaid patients, so preventing further cuts to Medicaid provider reimbursement rates would be a big help to FQHCs. Accepting federal funds to expand Medicaid would reduce much of the need for the Uncompensated Care Fund in the first place.

But until lawmakers recognize the importance of affordable, accessible health care in Oklahoma and fund it accordingly, none of this will happen — no matter how many studies prove how efficient providers are. If lawmakers are serious about keeping health care costs down, strengthening Oklahoma’s FQHCs is an important piece of the puzzle.