HealhFirst Network
216 South 3rd Avenue
Wausau, WI 54401
(800) 246-5743

Transcription is for seo purposes only

Jesse Scharfenberg, the CEO of HealthFirst Network. Let's begin with what is health first network. We are a network of clinics throughout north-central Wisconsin that serves individuals usually have lower income with reproductive health services and then with services such as the women infant and children program is about first network for a long time hasn't so we are actually at 47 years old now, so we are created back in 1973 as family-planning health services of Marathon County and as the organization has grown. We went to just family-planning health services and then back in 2016. After I was hired part of my mission and part of coming to health first with developing them new mission bring us forward. So what health services were provided through reproductive health, 40 some years ago. It looks completely different than what healthcare looks like today. The goal is really to move us forward family-planning health services had a lot of negative connotation because some individuals don't like reproductive health services are family-planning services. So going with a more generic name such as health first. Also included are with programs so we were so focused individuals would call and that receptionist is a payment plan health services and some of that. Oh, I thought I was calling the WIC program now is this an individual calls and the answer HealthFirst Network. They understand that we are network of clinics and services that offer many different services, so it's not just reproductive health is not just wickets several service so why was family-planning health services of Marathon County started 40 years ago there was a need for reproductive health services that were affordable for individuals. I know what we charge for services compared to other health care entities in our area and I know what we charge for the specific services is way less than other healthcare entities charge were you see health first network in 510 years from now growing on that part of our strategic plan is to find areas that are deserts for reproductive health care and let's fill in those gaps. That's really what we do is fill gaps and provide access to individuals who don't have access to. So we are looking at the map and figuring out where contraceptive deserts are. That was a term that was new to me when I started 4 1/2 years ago, but there's criteria that considered a contraceptive desert that individuals don't have access to birth control. So how can we help fill those gaps. How can we put clinic locations strategically in areas that don't have access or partner with individuals who are already there to provide better access to the individuals who need services which are typical client depends on the program really so far reproductive health program individuals between 18 and 24 years of age. Usually females that are coming in. They don't have health insurance so we help set them up with health insurance and lower income when looking at the WIC program. I would say we have a wide range of age anywhere from them to 14 up to 45 years of age. Individuals coming in pregnancy or with children that are really struggling to feed their catalysts, and that's one of the great benefits of the WIC program. It is not only do we get by nutrition education for that we also get to provide supplemental food benefits to them on a monthly basis to help feed the kiddos. One of the really cool things about the WIC program compared to that say snapper the food stamps program is we only provide healthy foods so we know that the individuals that are leaving are going to get adequate amounts of calcium and protein in their diet versus just giving them a check and they can buy whatever they want you mission, but there's a different clinics do they have different focuses order. They all basically running the same type program yes. So they different clinics have pretty much the same focus, so our WIC program is only in three of our clinics which would be our Wausau laying late and Tomahawk clinics, and then in all eight of our clinics is reproductive health and the really cool thing about being a network of reproductive health clinics. It doesn't matter which clinic you go to you getting the same set of services. We have the same model of services you can contact in the same way. The nurse practitioners. That is, serve you in the same way is very prescriptive so that if an individual moves throughout the states which we do see a lot of individuals bouncing between clinics to getting the same services and is delivered in the same way. So when you say reproductive services. What is that mean to somebody that just wouldn't go so reproductive health is a conglomeration of different services. Whether it's annual exams. STI testing and treatments, pregnancy testing, contraceptive methods of birth control methods for individuals. One of the big focuses after I came was shifting a little bit from just reproductive health services to more of a preventative focused so, ensuring that individuals come in for those annual exams that they're having some of those general baseline labs drawn every year. The majority of our population doesn't go anywhere else for services. So if were only focusing on reproductive health. There is a pretty large percent of the person that were missing out on so really looking at the whole person care as well as the focus knows of something that's been part of the mission since you been here in the last four years. Results of this but the whole time knows that was part of the changes that were made after I came was to really look at the whole person versus just the very small focus of the reproductive health services only. So we've really looked at making sure that were having individuals come in for those annual exams. We seen a huge increase in male clients, which is great. Our men are coming in quite as frequently for the annual exams has we would like to see them by offering the services to both men and women is extremely important to the services. Are you offering to most of our men are only coming in for STI testing and treatment, but any man can come in for consult. We can do different labs for them. We can do an annual exam for them if they would like to come in, but our main population that we see or serve the 18 to 25 year old. We don't see a lot of men in general. Outside of even health first that are going in for those annual exams between 18 and 25 years and yet be within a certain guideline of income in order to come in now that's one of the best things as there is no income qualifications for the reproductive health program. Anyone with any insurance that they can't pay. If they don't have health insurance. Anyone can walk to the door and were going to serve them with a lot of different opportunities within the reproductive health program for an individual to come in, say, is an undocumented citizen and they don't have any source of income. We can put them on our sliding fee scale and if health is your pain. They don't have to pay for their services, but they can still get those super important services we have that group of individuals that are Wisconsin residents that make less than $20 an hour and we can sign them up for F because it is the family-planning only services waiver program. Part of Medicaid. It covers all of their services that 100%, but we can say have a doctor walk in from a different location and that wants confidential STI testing, but also has private health insurance. We can build that private health insurance as well so we have so many options for individuals of whether they have health insurance. They don't but we can sign them up for something or they just don't have a payer source at all and they don't have to pay for the services that they have