Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report Rounds Up Service Reductions in New York, Texas

The following details reductions in clinic services in Binghamton, N.Y., and Harris County, Texas:

• Binghamton, N.Y.: The Community Free Clinic for Uninsured Adults, operated by the Broome County Health Department, will stop accepting new clients on Aug. 1, the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin reports. A "swelling caseload" of new patients since January has overwhelmed the clinic's volunteer staff of 42 physicians, 26 nurses and 16 lab technicians. At the beginning of the year, the clinic treated about 60 patients per week and 14 adults had visited the clinic for the first time, according to Patricia Darcy, associate dean of the Syracuse-based Upstate Medical University, which sponsors the clinic. In comparison, the clinic one day last week provided care for 64 uninsured adults and 18 new patients. Although the 4,230 patients who already receive care at the clinic can continue to receive free medical services, any new patients will be put on a waiting list and called when the clinic can begin accepting new clients. "We want to serve everyone. It just reached a point where we can't add anymore," Dr. Gary Fattal, the clinic's medical director, said (Moyer, Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin, 7/16).
• Harris County, Texas: The county Mental Health and Mental Retardation Authority stopped taking appointments from new nonemergency patients on July 1 and does not expect to begin accepting new patients for the next few weeks, the Houston Chronicle reports. Executive Director Steve Schnee said the agency was unable to keep up with demand resulting from local population growth, the loss of 500 local psychiatric care beds in recent years and three physician vacancies. In June, the agency treated 9,279 patients, more than the 8,830 patients required by its contract. According to Schnee, the increasing numbers of patients began delaying the agency's ability to respond to patients referred by other public institutions, specifically the University of Texas Harris County Psychiatric Center. The center's contract with MHMRA requires patients to receive treatment within three to five days after their release from the center, but new patients have been waiting as long as 13 days to see a provider at the agency. According to Schnee, when the average waiting times "return to normal," the agency plans to begin accepting new patients (Ackerman, Houston Chronicle, 7/13).