In case you missed it: Marin Community Clinics was featured on the front page of Saturday’s Marin Independent Journal. The report is regarding the Clinics’ expansion plan to meet the icnreased demand for affordable medical, dental, and behavioral health services within the community. Read a preview of the report written by the IJ’s Richard Halstead below, or view the full article on marinij.com.
Below is a preview of the article written by Richard Halstead and published by the Marin Independent Journal on July, 3rd, 2021.
Marin Community Clinics is launching an $8 million capital campaign to fund a major expansion in response to increased demand for its services following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We foresee a long tail of economic and social need falling out from the pandemic,” Mitesh Popat, CEO of Marin Community Clinics, told the Independent Journal editorial board on Tuesday. “We’ve seen disparities magnified by the pandemic.”
Marin Community Clinics plans to open a new medical clinic at 1618 Second St. that will provide medical, behavioral health and telehealth services, and a new dental complex at 411 Fourth St.
“Through the pandemic, we’ve had a tremendous uptick in demand for behavioral health services,” Popat said. He said increased use of telehealth services has been key in meeting that growing need.
Popat said only half of Marin Community Clinics’ patients currently are receiving dental services.
“We see that as a gap in service,” he said.
A third component of the expansion, a new clinic located at 1260 S. Eliseo Drive, opened in February. It offers specialized care for older adults with complex health issues.
Diana Lopez, who heads the Marin County Commission on Aging, said the number of Marin seniors who are barely scraping by economically grew during the pandemic.
“Older adults were the first to lose jobs, and they’ll be the last to be rehired,” Lopez said. “Some have lost their health insurance.”
Marin Community Clinics is also creating a new reserve fund to finance initiatives to recruit and retain medical providers. The fund will be used to provide employee signing and retention bonuses, to help employees repay student loan debt and to cover employee relocation costs.
Marin Community Clinics is Marin’s largest federally qualified health center, community-based health care providers that receive funds from the federal government to provide primary care services in underserved areas. They must offer services to all, regardless of the person’s ability to pay. The centers are eligible for enhanced reimbursement from Medicare and Medicaid, as well as other benefits.
Visit marinij.com to read the full article (log-in required). To learn more about the Clinics’ capital campaign, The Campaign for the Next Decade, visit marinclinic.org/campaign.
