Operating revenue at California’s community health clinics grew 22 percent between 2005 and 2008, according a new report from the California HealthCare Foundation.
“Financial Health of Community Clinics, 2010,” part of the CHCF's California Health Care Almanac, examines key measures of clinics' financial health from 2005 to 2008. It's based on a 2010 report prepared by Capital Link in collaboration with the CHCF.
The report found that California clinics grew in terms of revenue, patients, visits and staff between 2005 and 2008, with almost two-thirds of operating revenue growth coming from patient services.
Community clinics are part of the state’s primary care and safety-net system, especially for uninsured, underinsured and low-income people. These nonprofit facilities include federally qualified health centers, nonprofit rural health clinics, free clinics and other licensed safety-net centers such as family planning and school-based clinics.
Community clinics rely heavily on Medi-Cal (California’s Medicaid program) and Medicare, which accounted for 89 percent of net patient service revenue in 2008.
The report revealed that financially strong clinics tend to be large in terms of revenue (more than $15 million), serve a high number of low-income patients and have high reimbursement levels compared to financially weak clinics. The smallest clinics in terms of revenue are more likely to experience financial difficulty and have reimbursement levels that are half that of the largest clinics.
Both strong and weak clinics have similar productivity and expense levels on a per-visit basis, however.
Staffing levels are growing rapidly at California clinics, particularly for support staff. The report notes that this may highlight the increased provision of ancillary services as well as the growing importance of clinics as employers and economic forces in their communities.