FQHC is a community-based health care provider that receives funds from the U.S. Health Resources & Services Administration Health Center Program. It is intended to provide primary care services in underserved areas and to patients who are uninsured and underinsured. FQHCs provide care on a sliding fee scale and operate under a government board.
A groundbreaking ceremony was held in June at the future site of the health center, located at 1620 Virginia St., McKinney. Dirt started turning shortly after the event, and construction is expected to be complete this summer.
There are more than 56,000 uninsured McKinney residents, not including those who are underinsured, McKinney Mayor George Fuller said at the groundbreaking. The health center will offer them affordable, high-quality care for generations, he said.
Since January 2018, the health center has been temporarily operating at the Wysong Campus, located at 120 S. Central Expressway, Stes. 103 and 105, McKinney.
From January to November 2019, the health center completed more than 11,000 visits with more than 3,000 patients, according to center marketing consultant Valerie Lengel.
The number of patients is expected to double or triple at the new facility, center CEO Allen Patterson said in a previous interview with Community Impact Newspaper.
The center will be more than twice the size of the current building and will have double the number of providers, Patterson said.
The existing facility provides primary medical care, dental care and counseling services. Offerings at the new location will expand to include a laboratory, X-ray machines, classroom space for medical students and, most likely, a pharmacy, Patterson said.
As part of the health center’s growing operations, a federally qualified OB-GYN center is expected to open at Medical City McKinney, located at 4500 Medical Center Drive, McKinney.
"The Family Health Center has established a partnership with a local OBGYN practice, which enhances their ability to support the continuum of care for all women in the community," Lengel said.
