Lone Star Circle of Care celebrated the expansion and relocation of its Member Navigation Center during National Health Care Center Week at its ribbon cutting Aug. 16.

The new MNC, located at 8701 N. MoPac, Ste. 225, is 20,000-square-feet and has 52 full-time employees. The center relocated from Cedar Park and has the capacity to more than double its current amount of employees, said Rebekah Haynes, director of communications for LSCC. The MNC serves as a central hub for patients to call and make appointments at any of its 30 clinic locations in Travis, Williamson, Bastrop or Bell counties, and is equipped with technology to help increase efficiency in patient care.

"This enterprise is made possible through the state-of-the-art technology that we have here, including electronic health records, practice management systems, communications software and even data that has been able to be pulled from the regional health information exchange—all of that comes together so that we have a great snapshot of what is happening with a person, a member that is within our system," said LSCC Chief Medical Officer Tamarah Duperval-Brownlee.

She said the navigation center receives a daily report when LSCC patients have been admitted to the emergency room and representatives from the MNC calls those patients to check in on how they are doing. The navigation center also has electronic medical records, which can help eliminate the need for patients to communicate and keep track of test results, emergency room visits and more to their doctors, she said.

"Patients can feel like 'my health home knows me and they know what happened to me and they can serve me better,'" Duperval-Brownlee said.

Texas state representative Tony Dale R-District 136, said LSCC is excellent at containing health care costs for its patients and helping them understand what care they might need. For example, patients can call the MNC and speak to a nurse about whether they need to be seen at an emergency room, Dale said.

"This facility is designed to help [patients] understand what their options are, not just to contain costs, but also to help those patients find the best care possible within their system," Dale said.

Lone Star Circle of Care is a nonprofit organization that offers primary health care services to patients, including those who are under-insured and uninsured. As an organization, LSCC's goals include helping to reduce the number of emergency room and hospital readmission visits for patients and to reduce health care costs.