Eastern Iowa Health Center to build dental clinic for low-income families

Joe Lock has a lot to smile about these days.

That's because the chief executive officer of the Eastern Iowa Health Center - a federally qualified health clinic that serves low-income and Medicaid-eligible families - is on track to open a brand-new, nearly $1 million dental clinic by the first of next year, filling a big cavity in the city's health care setting.

'We're closing on the land, 1225 Third Ave. SE,” Lock said. 'It's going to be three parcels of land, so that allows for future expansion. It'll also be about 30 feet away from the Eastern Iowa Health Center, which I think is a compelling part of this project - we can do a warm handoff between primary care services and oral care.”

There's a huge need in Eastern Iowa for oral care for low-income families, Lock said. The primary care clinic, which also offers OB-GYN services, has more than 40,000 people come through its doors annually, according to clinic data, and delivers more than 90 babies each month.

More than 80 percent of Eastern Iowa Health Center's patients are on Medicaid and 98 percent of patients live below 200 percent of the federal poverty line.

'And we've only got about four dentists that will accept referrals from us,” Lock said.

That's because this population has high no-show rates, due to transportation and economic barriers, while dentists are reimbursed for the cost of care at low rates.

But the Eastern Iowa Health Center receives enhanced reimbursement fees due to its status as a Federally Qualified Health Center, Lock said, so it makes sense to 'make a go for it.”

The Eastern Iowa Dental Center is anticipated to have about 2,860 patient encounters in the first year alone, and more than 17,000 in the first three years.

The project truly is a community effort, Lock said - four chairs and equipment were donated by a retiring dentist and the Community Health Free Clinic while Primus Dental Design and Construction, a Cedar Rapids architectural, interior design and construction firm, has donated time and expertise to design and build the space.

Construction is slated to begin right after Labor Day.

Lock has applications out for six grants at area businesses and organizations still pending, and he's already secured nearly $500,000 in financing from Delta Dental of Iowa Foundation ($250,000); the Hall-Perrine Foundation ($210,000); and an anonymous Cedar Rapids donor ($25,000).

Jeff Russell, president and chief executive officer of Delta Dental, said the project was easy to support - despite Cedar Rapids being the second-largest metropolitan area in Iowa, it doesn't have a dental clinic for low-income adults, he said, and this project will expand access.

Delta Dental helped spearhead the Dental Wellness Plan several years ago - dental coverage for those with an income of 0 to 133 percent of the federal poverty level. The plan encourages low-income Iowa families to obtain preventive dental care and encourages more private-practice dentists to accept these patients by offering higher reimbursement rates.

Russell said about 820 of the state's 1,600 dentists are participating in the Dental Wellness Plan, but the Cedar Rapids clinic will reach a population (private dentists) might not ordinarily see.”

'The foundation believes there's a critical shortage for oral care for low-income families in our community,” said Iris Muchmore, executive vice president of the Hall-Perrine Foundation. The clinic 'will serve people on Medicaid who otherwise are unable to get preventive care.”

The Eastern Iowa Health Center's explosive growth is pushing it to expand in more ways than just dental care. It's finishing up a $1.9 million renovation and expansion at its facility of 1201 Third Ave. SE - adding 30 percent more exam rooms and making it Americans With Disabilities Act-compliant.

It also is adding new lighting, re-striping the parking lot and add landscaping because Lock said that regardless of income, everyone deserves an excellent place to receive health care.

He hopes to have patients and staff back in their facilities by mid-October.

Looking ahead to 2017, the facility will open a walk-in clinic - to help ease its waiting list of more than 500 people - add behavioral health services, expand OB-GYN services and expand its administrative offices.

'Really, I'd put our docs and quality of our health care up against anybody,” Lock said.