lentz public health center

lentz public health center

The Importance of Public Health Centers

1. The Role of Public Health Centers

The ability of public health centers to track the incidence and prevalence of health conditions through their surveillance work can serve as the necessary point for epidemiologists to understand variable rates of a disease in different areas and among different population groups. This work is in stark contrast to communities with limited funding that historically have a clinic and a hospital to treat individuals once they are sick but have limited resources in prevention or health maintenance.

Public health agencies can learn much from community medical practices and can develop ways to change the overall health of a community through short-term and long-term assessment. This is done through the surveillance of cases and health indicators, and through communication and coordination with local health care providers, the state, and other health departments. This can become a point of great debate between practitioners from the medical model and those from the public health model.

Public health centers play an important role in the field of public health and provide much of the foundation for public health in many underprivileged communities. Health centers provide services that range from long-term care to dental services in an effort to provide comprehensive care to the people they serve. In many community medical practices, people only receive the care of a physician and any prescribed treatment that may be necessary. Community medical practices frequently only treat the problem at hand and do not go to great lengths in helping the individual maintain a healthy lifestyle.

2. Services Provided by Public Health Centers

Public health centers provide a variety of services designed to keep people healthy. This includes immunizations to prevent diseases like hepatitis and influenza, diagnostic services such as tuberculosis testing and general cancer screening, and treatment for chronic conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure. Other services target particular groups; for example, WIC programs aim to ensure the health of low-income pregnant women and their children up to age 5. Public health centers also provide a safety net to people who are uninsured or underinsured – 26% of health center patients are uninsured and 71% have incomes below 100% of the poverty definition. This is especially important at a time when charity care provided by hospitals is declining and insurance coverage is becoming increasingly meager. Without the safety net of the public health centers, millions of people would have nowhere else to turn for subsidized healthcare services. Public health centers also help people sign up for insurance, ensuring that the general insurance coverage will rise.

3. Benefits of Accessing Public Health Centers

With public health care moving towards more privatization, it might become difficult to understand the services rendered. The Canadian health care system has not only to advocate the benefits of national healthcare for all Canadians but also has to enact the rules and regulations to prevent the siphoning of resources from the national health care to private facilities for the wealthier citizens.

Easily accessible: The main advantage of public health centres is that they are easily accessible. They are usually located in rural areas or urban slums, which require the most help. This makes patients feel comfortable and reduces the distance and budget barrier. A patient can get services that are as good as private health care, at no cost. This will improve the overall health of the individual and the community where he resides. High-quality health improves productivity of the individual.

Range of service: Public health centres provide a wide range of services. Under one roof, the patient gets all the services that he requires. The better facilities available at public health care are family planning services, maternal and child health care, preventive immunizations, treatment for communicable diseases, environmental health services, school health, occupational health, and rehabilitation services. A patient need not visit other places for further treatment. All he requires is available at public health centres.

Preventive health: Preventive health is the key healthcare measure that should be considered by any individual. Public health centres have good services for preventive health. Like the Canadian community health survey, it is a health promotion and disease prevention survey.

Low or no cost services: Most of the services available at public health centres are either free or very low cost. The main disadvantage of private health care is affordability. Only the upper class or middle class people can afford health insurance. Poor people can’t afford health care. In public health centres, patients can get free medications, and some plans even provide free surgeries or medical tests.

Quality care: The main advantage of accessing public health centres is that you get the best care. The physicians or doctors at public health centres are well qualified and have experience in their respective fields. The main priority there is to focus on primary prevention. They educate patients about what basic precautionary measures they should take to prevent any illness. If a patient suffers from any ailment, then sound and effective treatment is available at public health centres. The doctors try to solve the illness from the core level. The main aim is to completely eradicate the disease. Public health centres run programmes on immunisation too.

4. Challenges Faced by Public Health Centers

This is no overnight job and using the wise word “Rome wasn’t built in one day,” the first and highly notable challenge is raising the quality of care. Most public health centers were built in lower-class and backward settlements where the society’s general education level and health awareness are at the minimum. The residents may still believe in myths and customs or may have no faith in medical science, making them potential hosts of various diseases. It is hard to persuade and change their mindset, though getting it done will lessen the diseases and will help to raise their future generation’s health. Offering free healthcare services is an attractive offer, yet service quality is often lacking because of a shortage of money and resources. Subsequently, people are still stuck in private healthcare where they can afford a higher quality of care.

Public health centers were established specifically to serve the root of community health and henceforth provide primary medical and dental care for all those in need. Given its noble intention, it is not entirely flawless in executing what it was meant to. It’s true that public health centers have gained a significantly high reputable recognition globally, yet many challenges are still waiting to be addressed. Understanding what the challenges are is the first step to transform the existing image of public health centers and to spur them into better quality health providers.

5. The Future of Public Health Centers

By providing an array of services on location, the public health center has become an integral part of the community. This wide range of services, in one location, is believed to be the answer to increasing access and decreasing disparities in vulnerable populations. Yet, what will be the evolution of the public health center while still providing these essential services to those in need? There are a few challenges encountered by the community health center. One is the increased competition, either from other private providers or other safety net providers like clinics in migrant worker camps. This can result in shifting priorities of health centers, as they face increased pressure to obtain paying patients and better serve privately insured patients. While it may not be a bad thing for the medically underserved if community health centers improve their financial situation, the danger is in diverting resources from patients most in need to more lucrative markets. This threatens to increase disparities in care for minority and low-income populations. In direct conflict with the goals and mission of public health, this could decrease access and increase disparities in care for those whom health centers were originally designed to serve. High enrollment of vulnerable populations to Medicaid or SCHIP places health centers at risk, with potential cuts and reduced funding for these programs. This is the lifeblood of the community health center, and funding changes directly affect their ability to provide services to those in need. Any cuts to these programs could lead to a reduction in access and quality of care provided by health centers. While the migration to an electronic health care system has the potential to increase efficiency and overall better patient care, it is not without its drawbacks to the public health sector. Matching the cost effectiveness and efficiency of paper records will be difficult, with several health centers lacking the resources or personnel to make a smooth transition. A difficult transition could affect the quality of care provided. EHR systems are also designed for interoperability between different organizations. This creates potential for loss of patient information as they are referred to specialists or other healthcare facilities. Patient data safety is a major concern with EHR systems, as they are vulnerable to hacking and breaches of sensitive patient information. Loss of patient information and breaches to the system can have a catastrophic effect on vulnerable populations due to increased risk of identity theft, denial of citizen benefits, and legal issues regarding immigration status. EHR is designed for an individual patient and does not account for community-wide public health issues. This includes preventive services and population screening. With health information becoming more focused on individual patients, there is potential for public health to be neglected. Public health organizations or HMOs may eventually need to create their own EHR systems specifically for data on the populations they serve. This is an expensive endeavor; loss of federal funding may render this implausible and further widen the technology gap between public health organizations and primary care providers. This affects collaborative efforts between health centers and public health organizations in efforts such as the Community Guide or translating research into practice. Public health must monitor and adapt to EHR incentive programs to ensure that it does not fall behind.