One-Stop Shop for Dental, Medical and Behavioral Health Services Offers Truly Integrated Care
One of Open Door Health Center’s dentists, Dr. Natalie Nguyen, DMD, visits with a patient about her treatment plan.
Open Door offers dental, medical and behavioral health services all under one roof, and its success is built around fostering true collaboration, which happens right at the center of the clinic.
“Access to health services, and especially basic dental care, is such a big issue, particularly for a lower income population,” said Frank Fernández, Blue Cross vice president for government market solutions. “We are trying to help create more permanent access to health services for all people and saw supporting Open Door as a great strategy.”
The clinic completed its renovation and expansion in 2015, thanks in part to a grant from Blue Cross. All three of its care teams work together to provide individualized care for their patients. Doug Jaeger, chief executive officer of Open Door Health Center, believes the combination of dentists, doctors, nurses, mental health professionals and community health workers all under one roof is truly innovative.
“We are proud of our integrated approach to health care.”
“We provide integrated care,” Jaeger said. “We want to offer that one-stop shop for health care because people don’t always have the time or resources to take off multiple times from their jobs. We’re able to help with whatever their needs are on any given day.”
Responding to a Community Need
Open Door has moved health forward in Mankato for more than 20 years, originally opening as community-based response to an environment in which women and children were uninsured and/or unable to find affordable health care.
Through the years, Open Door has evolved into a community health center that offers a full spectrum of services and operates two mobile clinics – one medical and one dental – which provide a range of health services across southern Minnesota to people in rural communities that struggle with accessing needed medical and dental care.
Counselor Erica Idso-Weisz, LMFT, provides therapy through play to a young girl while her mother actively observes.
Funding Open Door’s Future
As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and Federally Qualified Health Center, Open Door receives much of its funding through federal support, along with other grants and donations. Its current building was donated by a locally owned specialty practice in 2002; however, the amount of space and original floor plan was inhibiting additional growth. In 2014, Blue Cross stepped in as a partner to help fund $500,000 of a much-needed renovation, which features eight new “dental operatories,” adding to the existing nine “operatories” already serving the clinic’s patients.
The additional dental rooms were designed to be a bright, spacious and conducive environment for Minnesota State University, Mankato’s dental hygiene students to learn. This work is particularly important to Open Door due to some shifts in the availability of dentists, hygienists, and assistants. Generally speaking there are also fewer dental professionals willing to practice in a rural environment.
“Our ability to train emerging dental hygienists about the unique needs of our patients in an environment that features medical and behavioral health collaboration is imperative to the future of dental care,” said Jennifer Theneman, chief operations officer at Open Door.
“Dentists who wish to operate at the top of their licensure, care for those in need, and focus on patient care, rather than owning their own clinic, excel in a community health environment like Open Door.”
Medical Suites Create Patient Comfort
The focus on patient care space is also reflected in the “medical care suites” the clinic added as part of the renovation. “Instead of the small examination rooms that most clinics have, the medical care suite is a unique model that we intentionally use to create a more comfortable environment for the patient,” said Lisa Hoffman Wojcik, development and communications manager at Open Door.
Once situated in a medical care suite, various providers can come to the patient as determined by the medical provider. This may include people in roles such as social workers, dieticians, community health workers or dentists, each depending on the needs of the patient.
“Everyone comes to them,” said Wojcik. “The space features warm colors, soft lighting and other amenities, as well as ample space for family members and interpreters.”
A Longstanding Partnership
In addition to helping fund the building expansion, Blue Cross has a history of a unique partnership with Open Door, working with the organization in a variety of ways – everything from co-hosting community meetings that bring additional partners to the table, to showing community leaders and decision-makers first-hand the good work that Open Door is doing.
Since the start of MNsure enrollment, Blue Cross has partnered with Open Door to hire and train staff to become Certified Navigators to provide free enrollment assistance to the region. “Our partnership has enabled thousands of people to understand all of their options and ultimately obtain insurance coverage. If we can provide opportunities for people to receive affordable, regular care, and not use the emergency department and come away with a large expense, then that is a win-win,” shares Theneman.
In an effort to encourage further partnership among nonprofit organizations to address the social determinants of health, the Blue Cross Foundation provided a grant to support a collaborative initiative between Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services and Open Door Health Center, through a partnership known as Lawyers Advancing Wellness (LAW) at Open Door. Blue Cross provides funding to have an attorney on site at the clinic three days a week. Patients can receive free consultations on civil matters, and in some cases full representation.
Wojcik said she appreciated Blue Cross’ ability to be a good partner and build on the clinic’s existing strengths and ideas for the future. “Blue Cross has a real interest in building relationships,” she said. “They don’t just provide organizations money through grants. Blue Cross takes it a step further and gets partners engaged and in the end we all benefit. We also learn how we can work better together.”
Learn more about how Open Door is giving all people in the Greater Mankato Area and southern Minnesota access to quality and affordable care at www.odhc.org.