My Care Health Center outlines services, awards and plans for expanded behavioral-health care in Mount Clemens

Karen Wood, identifying herself as CEO of My Care Health Center, presented the health center’s services and community role to the Mount Clemens City Commission. Wood said My Care is a federally qualified health center (FQHC) with multiple locations including a Mount Clemens site, and that FQHC status depends on meeting federal guidelines and helps secure supplemental funding (Section 330 grants from the Public Health Service Act).

Wood described My Care’s wraparound services: comprehensive primary care, dental care, behavioral health, substance-use-disorder treatment including medication-assisted treatment (MAT), social work integrated into clinical visits, transportation services (two vans), and a sliding-fee program so no one is turned away based on ability to pay. She said the center served about 4,381 patients in 2018 with approximately 14,356 visits (figures as stated in the presentation) and that My Care had 49 employees at that time.

Wood noted recognition the organization received from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services for “exemplary practice” and a patient-centered medical home (PCMH) designation. She explained that My Care uses Vivitrol (a once-monthly injection) for appropriate MAT patients and that the center planned to hire a psychiatrist to increase access to specialty behavioral-health care.

Commissioners asked about hours, insurance acceptance and transportation; Wood said the center accepts commercial insurance, Medicaid and Medicare and operates extended evening and Saturday hours at some locations to reduce emergency-department use. She also highlighted outreach programs for returning citizens coordinated through a Department of Corrections grant.

The presentation was informational; no city funding or contractual action for the health center was recorded during the meeting.