Iron River, WI | by Rick Olivo | Feb 1, 2019
Orignial Article can be found at https://www.apg-wi.com
NorthLakes Community Clinic has announced that as of Friday, February first, Northern Health Centers (NHC) is now part of NorthLakes Community Clinic. NorthLakes Community Clinic is a sister Federally Qualified Health Center headquartered in Iron River, Wisconsin. The NHC Board of Directors made the decision to merge with NorthLakes in 2018 as a way to respond to better serve patients now and into the future.
“As a smaller community health center, we determined it was time to find a partner that could provide us more depth in some of the foundational back-end aspects of running a community health center,” says Shelly White, CEO of Northern Health Centers. “Merging with NorthLakes Community Clinic allows us to continue serving the people of northeast Wisconsin, while having additional resources available to improve overall patient experience and stabilize our future.”
White, along with the rest of the Northern Health Centers staff, will remain on the NorthLakes team; and additional dental, medical and mental health providers and staff are being hired. The White Lake, Oconto and Lakewood locations will remain open and provide the same services as before. Patients will notice few changes, other than communication and billing now coming from NorthLakes Community. There will also be an additional resource available for patients via a change in the Sliding Fee Scale. As part of this merger, under- or un-insured patients who qualify for the first level (Slide A) of the Sliding Fee Scale will now pay no co-pay. Prior to the merger, their co-pay was $20.
“As a regional community health center, we are also exploring ways to actively remove barriers to care,” says NorthLakes Community Clinic CEO Reba Rice. “This merger provides an opportunity to ensure patients in northeast Wisconsin have access to high quality, affordable care. We strongly believe everyone deserves access to care and are always looking for ways to achieve that mission.”
NorthLakes Community Clinic is a regional Community Health Center, with clinic locations in Ashland, Balsam Lake, Birchwood, Hayward, Iron River, Lakewood, Minong, Oconto, Park Falls, Turtle Lake, Washburn and White Lake. They are a 501(c)3 non-profit organization managed by a patient majority board of directors. They offer medical, chiropractic, dental services, behavioral health counseling including substance use disorder and recovery services, psychiatric services, pediatric speech and occupational therapy, physical therapy, and prescriptions for patients. They also have resource coordinators and health insurance navigators who can assist both patients and non-patients.
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