“Many of our patients have not had primary care for years and have multiple medical and behavioral needs,” Space Coast CEO Arvin Lewis said in a statement to KHN. Parrish spent $1.2 million to set up the clinic, which provides primary care and mental health care, a few blocks from the hospital. Parrish Medical Center in Titusville, which helped open Space Coast Health Centers, designated as a look-alike in 2022.At the same time, hospitals expect many patients from the look-alike clinics who need to be admitted for services or require specialized care to be routed to their hospitals, he said.Īt least eight hospital systems have converted existing clinics or built new ones that received look-alike designation from 2019 through 2022, according to a KHN analysis of federal data. Hospitals are betting that they will come out ahead by spinning off a money-losing service and providing grant funding to the look-alike to keep it solvent, he said. “It’s a trend that’s gaining momentum,” he said.
Converting clinics to look-alikes is also often a strategy for hospitals that have a high proportion of patients enrolled in Medicaid, which generally reimburses hospitals at lower rates than commercial health plans do, said Jeffrey Allen, a partner with the consulting firm Forvis. That helps reduce losses, especially from uninsured patients who might have been using the ER for primary care. As a result, the clinics can help divert patients without urgent needs from expensive emergency rooms. Nor do the look-alikes get the financial benefit in which the federal government covers their malpractice risks.Įven though they are not part of a hospital system, many of the hospital-formed look-alikes have clinics on hospital campuses or within a short distance.
They allow the clinics to obtain prescription drugs at deep discounts and attract doctors by making them eligible for a government program that helps them pay off their student debt if they work in an area with a shortage of medical providers.īut unlike the community health centers, the look-alikes do not get an annual federal grant to cover operational costs. Like the nearly 1,400 federally qualified health centers - which get those additional dollars as well - a clinic designated by the government as a “look-alike” is also eligible for federal programs that could help reduce costs and recruit providers. Medicare and Medicaid pay these clinics, known as federally qualified health center look-alikes, significantly more than they would if the sites were owned by hospitals. A growing number of hospitals are outsourcing often-unprofitable outpatient services for their poorest patients by setting up independent, nonprofit organizations to provide primary care.
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