Hernando County, Florida, Indigent Care Program May Become Independent, Not-for-Profit Organization

The indigent care program in Hernando County, Florida, could switch from a corporation funded and controlled by the county to an independent, not-for-profit organization, under a proposal the county commission will consider this week, the St.Petersburg Times reports. Access Hernando provides free medical services to uninsured county residents -- "most of whom" are referred by the county health department -- with annual incomes at or below 125% of the federal poverty level. Patients obtain medical care through private doctors who donate their time. Under the commission's proposal, the program would be released from "government sovereignty" and would join the Hernando County Medical Society. The program still would be "responsible to county government" and would provide progress reports to the county board of commissioners. In addition, the county would continue to subsidize the program but "with progressively fewer dollars" each year, Jean Rags, county social services department director, said. By switching to not-for-profit, the program would be able to qualify for grants and private funding, Rags noted, adding, "We don't want to be the sole supporter of it. This is putting it out there on its own so it can be community sponsored." But Dr. Clinton McGrew, director of the Hernando Doctors Clinic, an indigent health care program abandoned by the county last summer, said Access Hernando is similar to the clinic program and is "destined to fail." He added, "[T]hat's a shame because the losers are the patients" (Liberto, St. Petersburg Times, 7/9).