New clinic for Lexington’s underserved emerges out of a critical audit, political fight

Patients enter into the wide, bright spaces of HealthFirst Bluegrass on Southland Drive, a 34,000-square-foot clinic that offers services from primary care to pediatrics to behavioral health to dentistry.

All its offerings are displayed in signs in English and Spanish because 30 percent of the patients treated at the clinic — which has been open since November — are native Spanish speakers.

There’s a pharmacy on the first floor. Obstetrics and gynecology services are available.

Although the Southland clinic is still new, more services are being considered.

“It was well-planned and hopefully will open the doors to new possibilities in the future,” dental coordinator Mariela Brozik said of the facility.

HealthFirst interim executive director Brent Rafferty agrees. HealthFirst has the ability to bring in new physicians and to offer the kind of preventive services it wants to give patients to improve their health over the long haul.

Of the nearly 18,000 patients served last year by HealthFirst, 60 percent were on Medicaid, 20 percent had no insurance and 20 percent had other insurance.

“We’re on the cusp of being able to leverage this investment to, say, look at all the diabetics as a group: Have they had a recent A1C test (for blood glucose)?” Rafferty said. “If not, we need to get them in and get them checked. These are quality measures that we seek to continue to improve.

“If there are barriers to community health, we’re going to help them manage it.”

Already, plans include offering patients interactive ways to access their health information via computer. A radiology suite is on the way.

The new clinic site is a remarkably peaceful place given the ruckus that preceded its construction.

Although an $11.7 million federal grant for a new public health clinic for HealthFirst Bluegrass was approved in 2010, the project fell into disarray in 2013 after a critical audit of HealthFirst by then state Auditor Adam Edelen. The organization was accused of conflict of interest and cash flow problems. Ultimately, the Board of Health withdrew tax dollars from HealthFirst and voted to find a new partner to build the clinic.

A key manager and four board members of HealthFirst resigned, allowing a new executive director to be appointed and a new board created.

Kevin Hall, a spokesman for the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department, said that the health department and HealthFirst now have an excellent relationship: “HealthFirst Bluegrass and the health department are now two separate agencies without any official affiliation, but they remain a great community partner for public health and for Lexington’s medical community.”

And HealthFirst has attempted to quell some concerns about the clinic by the nearby neighborhood by installing shadowbox fencing and putting a blinder on a light that shone into a homeowner’s backyard, Rafferty said.

HealthFirst now employs 188 people systemwide and has moved on with its mission of providing medical care to Lexington’s underserved populations.

In addition to the clinic on Southland, a 4,800-square-foot satellite clinic opened earlier in 2015 off Bryan Station Road. Dental clinics are offered at 650 Newtown Pike and on Southland. There are seven elementary school clinics, including at Harrison Elementary and Tates Creek Elementary. A clinic for homeless patients is offered at the Hope Center.

Deborah Stanley, HealthFirst’s medical director, said the new clinic reinforces HealthFirst’s status as a first-rate medical provider for patients throughout the community.

“The care they get is equal to any they can get in the community,” she said, adding that previous facilities were “not optimal.”

“Our patients stuck with us, and that is our reward,” Stanley said of the new clinic.

This story was originally published March 2, 2016 at 6:34 PM with the headline "New clinic for Lexington’s underserved emerges out of a critical audit, political fight."