We know that the current situation regarding COVID-19 (Coronavirus) continues to evolve rapidly. Community Health Center of Cape Cod is monitoring the situation with the latest guidance from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to provide updated information to our patients as it becomes available.
Please visit our coronavirus page to learn more.
If you have any questions, you can call the Health Center at (508) 477-7090.
Mashpee – Community Health Center of Cape Cod has been recognized as a 2019 Health Center Quality Leader by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)’s Bureau of Primary Healthcare. The Health Center has received recognition for ranking among the top 10% of health centers nationally for clinical quality – the first time in the organization’s history that they have received this honor.
This recognition by HRSA was for numerous quality improvement achievements in 2019. In addition to the top 10% Quality Leader recognition for clinical quality measures, Community Health Center of Cape Cod was recognized in a number of subcategories of the Improving Quality of Care Awards. These categories are Clinical Quality Improvers, demonstrating at least 15% improvement on a clinical quality measure; Advancing Health Information Technology (HIT) for Quality Award, for utilizing five HIT services and/or telehealth services to increase access to care and advance quality of care; and Patient Centered Medical Home Recognition, for having patient centered medical home recognition (PCMH) in one or more delivery sites. The Health Center is honored to be recognized by HRSA as a health center leader in these categories and will continue to work on quality improvement efforts to provide the best care possible for the community. The Health Center has offices in Mashpee, Falmouth, Bourne and Centerville, and provides integrated care services for anyone in the community who needs it, regardless of ability to pay.
Community Health Center of Cape Cod is excited to welcome Dr. Thomas Andrea OD, FAAO as Director of Optometry Services. Dr. Andrea, a resident of Sandwich, most recently served as an Assistant Clinical Professor at the New England School of Optometry and as an Attending Optometrist at the Lynn Community Health Center.
Dr. Andrea received his Doctor of Optometry (OD) from the New England College of Optometry (NECO) in Boston and completed his residency in Ocular Disease and Primary Care at VA Boston Healthcare System in Brockton, MA. He continues to serve as the Director of the NECO Alumni Association and is a member of the American Optometric Association and the Massachusetts Society of Optometrists. He received his Fellowship with the American Academy of Optometry at the most recent meeting in November of 2018. Dr. Andrea is accepting new patients ages 6 and up and has an interest in caring for patients with systemic and ocular diseases, such as diabetes, macular degeneration and co-managing glaucoma. Community Health Center of Cape Cod offers optometry services at their Mashpee office located at 107 Commercial Street, and has recently increased its optometry services with the addition of teleretinal cameras at its Falmouth and Bourne offices. The optometry office in Mashpee will also be expanded soon, and these latest developments will allow for improved eye care and overall health for a broader spectrum of patients in the community
The below article was written by Cynthia McCormick of the Cape Cod Times.
CENTERVILLE — The Cape’s nonprofit community health centers continue to grow, with the Mashpee-based Community Health Center of Cape Cod recently opening a fourth location in Centerville.
Located at 1185B Falmouth Road, the Centerville office offers primary care and walk-in service from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Thursday.
Walk-in services in Centerville are available to the general public, not just the health center’s registered patients, said Christopher Ellis, who is director of organizational advancement. The Centerville office held a grand opening Jan. 31.
The health center plans to add two dental chairs to the Centerville location later this year, making dentistry available at all of its locations including Bourne, Falmouth and Mashpee, Ellis said.
The health center got its start 21 years ago as the Falmouth Free Clinic, with a volunteer staff dedicated to serving people who didn’t have insurance.
Ten years later a 10,000-square-foot office opened in Mashpee and in 2012 another 22,000 square feet was added.
Now serving more than 17,000 patients, the health center has an annual budget of of $18 million for 2019, Ellis said.
Last year, 13 percent of the operating revenue came from state and federal grants and 10 percent from philanthropy, he said.
Revenue from patient services came to 77 percent, Ellis said.
The 3,000-square-foot Centerville renovation cost $690,000 and is being funded mainly by philanthropy, said Karen Gardner, CEO of the organization.
The new location was opened to help serve the community health center’s 2,300 patients from Barnstable, Ellis said.
“The addition of a Community Health Center of Cape Cod office in Centerville will allow us to expand access to care for our patients and the community as a whole,” Gardner wrote in an email.
Of the health center’s patients, 41 percent are on MassHealth, 23 percent are on Medicare, five percent have no insurance and the rest receive coverage either through Connector Care or private insurance, Ellis said.
“We continue to see increased demand for integrated care services, and we want to be able to meet those demands with convenient and accessible services where our patients live and work,” she said.
Over the years, the Center has added services such as pharmacy, optometry and behavioral health.
“I think they’re fantastic. They’re very caring,” said Rob Caggiula of Mashpee, who went Tuesday to the Centerville office.
A regular patient, Caggiula, who owns a landscaping business, said the Centerville office was able to take him as a walk-in on a slow day for his business.
A community health center typically is located in or serves an area that is considered medically underserved, is governed by a community boards, provides comprehensive primary health care and other services, and provides services to all based on ability to pay.
On Cape Cod, Community Health Center of Cape Cod is not the only community health center expanding services.
The Duffy Health Center in Hyannis, which serves 3,200 people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, moved into its new building in 2011 and recently completed a $500,000 renovation, said Duffy CEO Heidi Romans Nelson.
Outer Cape Health Services closed a clinic in South Harwich and opened an expanded clinic in Harwich Port in December, said Outer Cape spokesman Gerry Desautels.
The Wellfleet center is closed for renovations that will expand its footprint by 50 percent when it reopens, which is expected to be in June, Desautels said.
Outer Cape Health Services sees 17,000 patients annually, Desautels said. He estimated it has 300 new patients since opening the Harwich Port clinic and has expanded its service area to include Dennis and Yarmouth in addition to the eight easternmost towns on Cape Cod.
Outer Cape Health Services had operated a dental service out of its Provincetown office, but last year the nonprofit signed an agreement with Harbor Health Services, which has a clinic in Hyannis, to run the dental program, Desautels said.
Harbor Health Services opened its Hyannis clinic in 2003 and provides medical, dental, and behavioral healthcare, said Ami Bowen, the agency’s director of community relations.
“We are looking to offer more patients recovery services in Hyannis,” Bowen said in an email. “We are also looking to expand our dental care at our Ellen Jones Dental Health Center in Harwich and are currently looking for a potential new site.”
Harbor Health has 13,400 patients in Hyannis and Harwich, Bowen said.
Community Health Center of Cape Cod hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony at its new Centerville office, located at 1185B Falmouth Road, on January 31. There was a great turnout of Board Members, donors, patients, staff, volunteers and community partners to officially open the new office. Community Health Center of Cape Cod Chief Executive Officer Karen Gardner welcomed the crowd and provided information about the Health Center’s expansion and Massachusetts State Representative Will Crocker also made remarks about the importance of health centers on the Cape. All of the guests at the ribbon cutting were able to tour the new office and meet the Centerville staff.
“Cutting the ribbon today at our Centerville office is our first step in providing access to affordable health care to even more Cape Cod residents,” Gardner said. “Over the last twenty years, we have seen tremendous patient growth and recognized a need for a location on the mid-Cape to keep up with the demand for health care services. Now that our new Centerville office is officially open, we look forward to offering high-quality, affordable, integrated health care closer to our patients and to the community as a whole.”
Community Health Center of Cape Cod’s Centerville office currently offers primary and walk-in care services, and dental services will be offered later this year. The office is open Monday through Thursday from 8:00 to 6:00 p.m. No appointment is necessary to utilize walk-in services for treatment and care of minor injuries and illnesses, and services are open to the public, regardless of if you are a patient at the Health Center.
For more information about Community Health Center of Cape Cod, please visit www.chcofcapecod.org or call (508) 477-7090.
Click here to read a Cape Cod Times interview with CHC’s CEO Karen Gardner on the potential fate of health programs after federal funding cuts.
Cape Cod Times– Community Health Center of Cape Cod has been recognized by the Bureau of Primary Health Care as a Health Center Quality Leader, according to a statement from the Mashpee-based health organization.
The center was one of just 13 health centers in Massachusetts to receive the award, which covers the 2016 calendar year.
Each February, the health center submits a uniform data submission report to the federal government, which includes a number of productivity and outcome measures from the prior year. For 2016, the outcomes ranked in the top 25 percent of all health centers nationwide for four measures: cervical cancer screening, adults screened for tobacco use, controlling high blood pressure and managing diabetes, the statement says.
The Bureau of Primary Health care is part of the Health Resources and Services Administration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
To listen to the interview, click here.
Mashpee – Dr. Stephanie Prior, a physician at Community Health Center of Cape Cod since 2006, recently returned from Puerto Rico where she provided medical assistance for two weeks to residents devastated by Hurricane Maria. Stationed mostly in Arroyo, Patillas and Maunabo, Dr. Prior treated patients in clinics set up on basketball courts during the mornings and visited homebound patients in the mountains in the afternoons. Dr. Prior worked as part of a team from Heart to Heart International, an organization that strives to strengthen communities through improving healthcare access, providing humanitarian development and administering crisis relief efforts worldwide using volunteers and partners.
Dr. Prior’s Heart to Heart team was comprised of five health professionals, including two physicians, a paramedic, a certified midwife, and an EMT. Dr. Prior’s primary responsibilities included providing and refilling medications and performing general medical triage. She also administered vaccines for tetanus and the flu. As Puerto Rico continues to experience interrupted telecommunications, including internet and cell phone use, Dr. Prior said she and the team drove around the neighborhoods to announce the times they would be available to see patients. “For the most part, everyone was really well taken care of,” Dr. Prior said.
This is Dr. Prior’s second time working with Heart to Heart, and she completed a trip to Haiti in February 2016. Dr. Prior remains steadfast in her humility insisting that we should commend the people of Puerto Rico for their optimism and tenacity during such a difficult time.