Assisting the Uninsured Community of San Joaquin County

Community Medical Centers, the FQHC in which I serve, serves a little over 100,000 patients throughout the San Joaquin and Solano Counties. That said, that is about one-third of the population in Stockton. It was crazy to learn about this as I started my service because it made me realize just how big the population that Community Medical Centers (CMC) serve was.

While serving at CMC, I’ve noticed that many uninsured individuals from these communities are often unaware of the free or discounted services provided at Community Medical Centers. Some are not aware that CMC is a CHC or an FQHC. Serving at CMC has helped me to understand more about what FQHCs can offer and being able to educate and inform uninsured individuals also. 

Serving as an Alternative Payment Method Coordination Associate (APM), I help patients who are not insured with health coverage. I go over their eligibility and help assist them with Medi-Cal enrollment if applicable. Alongside this, I always do my best to inform patients that they can do the sliding fee offered at CMC to get a discounted doctor’s visit if they are uninsured and want to see a doctor. Though of course, there are also many other programs if patients may be eligible to be enrolled for regarding their doctors' visits. It is always rewarding to hear about how grateful patients are to be informed about these services.

Moreover, my service at CMC includes assisting individuals with their Medi-Cal. Many patients I meet struggle navigating through having Medi-Cal because they are unfamiliar with the process. So, I assist patients with their Medi-Cal to prevent them from losing their coverage. These can include checking the application status if a patient has enrolled and finding the Medi-Cal case worker through contacting Medi-Cal, along with renewals and uploading documents to their case. Being able to assist patients in navigating their way with Medi-Cal helps them to be informed about future processes and have more ability to navigate it in the future.

As we want to continue helping individuals who are uninsured to know more about the free services with Medi-Cal assistance that CMC provides, I am currently working on a project that involves outreach. Outreach within the community can make more individuals aware of the free service that CMC provides regarding health coverage. By doing more outreach within the community, we hope to help our community the best we can so that individuals won’t have to struggle with finding or getting the health care that they need, and to better promote a healthier community.