Long-awaited service and clinic expansions in eastern Travis County are set to take shape in 2019 and 2020, Central Health CEO Mike Geeslin said.
While Geeslin said to Central Health board members Dec. 19 he was pleased the health care district is providing more access to care in eastern Travis County, he said Central Health should delay other future projects until the planning process can be revised.
“We've made good decisions, but we're at risk of making some very bad decisions or sloppy decisions if we just start picking and choosing based on the political back pressure,” Geeslin said.
In previous years Central Health has struggled to
balance the needs of a particularly vocal set of community members advocating for
southeast Travis County along with needs of other communities in the county.
By April, Geeslin said he hopes to develop a plan in collaboration with partners of Central Health, such as the CommUnity Care Collaborative, which operates federally qualified health clinics. He said he hopes future projects will involve a clearer delegation of responsibilities between Central Health, CommUnity Care and other partners as well as a more data-driven approach to where clinics and service expansions are needed in the county.
“We have to try to de-politicize this process somewhat and really think critically about what's best for our patients 15 or 20 years from now and bring all the partners and all the data that we can get our hands on together and make very thoughtful, patient-centric business decisions,” Geeslin said.
Geeslin said he also hopes a revised planning process will help Central Health focus on community outreach and data collection while CommUnity Care and Seton Healthcare Family focuses on project management and clinic development plans. Central Health faced many business and real estate hurdles in trying to find land for the clinics, Geeslin said. Working with representatives from CommUnity Care and Seton helped expedite the process this fall, he said.
“What we learned from this [process] is that Central Health should not be in the position of project manager for these sorts of things.” he said. “Standing up clinics is not what we do. ... There is no way that we are staffed up properly here at Central Health to be able to understand what all of those task steps are.”
Projects in the pipeline
Geeslin outlined four projects in the pipeline in eastern Travis County that were approved in the fiscal year 2018-19
budget approved in September:
- Creedmoor: A mobile health clinic will begin operating in the Del Valle area by Spring 2019.
- Kellam Road: A permanent health clinic will be constructed in southeast Travis County in partnership with Emergency Services District 11 and set to open by 2020.
- Hornsby Bend/Austin’s Colony: CommUnity Care practitioners will begin by offering home visits in east Travis County by spring 2019. A modular clinic will be constructed by July 2019, and a possible permanent clinic will be constructed by an undetermined date.
- Colony Park: A mobile health clinic will operate in northeast Travis County by May 2019 and could be replaced by a permanent clinic in an undetermined date.
