Health care center opens clinic on West Side

CINCINNATI, OH | by Bill Cieslewicz | November 7, 2019

Original article can be found at: https://www.bizjournals.com/

A Cincinnati health care center that provides primary care to low-income and uninsured children and adults has opened a new, larger facility on the West Side.

Crossroad Health Center, which serves more than 12,000 patients in Greater Cincinnati, opened a new clinic Nov. 4 at 2170 Anderson Ferry Road, Covedale, in a space formerly occupied by Buybacks Entertainment Store. The facility features 21 exam rooms and is twice as large as the one it replaced at 2859 Boudinot Ave. in Westwood, which closed Nov. 1.

Patients ranging in age from newborns to seniors can receive services from four primary care doctors, which include sick visits and checkups, immunizations, prenatal care, behavioral health counseling, and medication-assisted treatment for opioid and alcohol addiction.

“We are excited to expand our health care services in Western Hills,” Jamie Berrens, Crossroad CEO, said in a release. “Our new West office is twice as large (as the Boudinot Avenue location), so we’ll be able to provide a full range of primary care and preventive services to even more families.”

While Crossroad serves patients of all economic levels, its sliding fee scale ensures that no one is turned away. Crossroad accepts Medicaid, Medicare and most commercial insurance plans. About 75% of Crossroad patients are insured by Medicaid.

According to the Ohio Association of Community Health Centers (OACHC), community health centers like Crossroad provide significant Medicaid cost savings:

• The total cost of care for federally qualified health center patients was 24% lower due to fewer hospital emergency room visits and reduced spending on inpatient and specialty care
• In 2018, Ohio’s community health centers provided care to 13.2% of Ohio Medicaid beneficiaries – but Medicaid payments to health centers made up only 0.8% of total Medicaid spending.

Crossroad Health Center, a federally qualified health center founded in 1992, is a faith-based setting that has 86 employees and operates five centers: Western Hills, Over-the-Rhine, Harrison and two school-based health centers that care for students and their families at Rothenberg Preparatory Academy and Taft Elementary School. Taft is also open to the community.