Big plans for Family HealthCare Network in 2011

What was once a small medical clinic servicing patients out of a converted two-room house on East Date Avenue in 1976, has blossomed into the large multi-floor complex that now sits on Poplar Avenue. A second dental complex, with four operatories opened on Putnam Avenue in 2001 — and in 2006, the Poplar Avenue site grew again. It now has 53 exam rooms and six dental operatories.

But the growth doesn’t stop there.

In 2011, Family HealthCare Network is adding a new pharmacy and 12 dental-operative units to its Porterville facility.

“We have a lot of growth planned,” said Harry Foster, president and chief executive officer of Family HealthCare Network, which now includes 11 medical and dental sites, a finance office and corporate offices. “In Porterville, we are opening a 4,000 square foot, 12-dental operatory that we are placing right in the center of our [Poplar Avenue] facility.”

Once the new dental operatories are open, the site on Putnam Avenue will close, Foster said.
But work will not begin until some time in February.

“We’re waiting on bonds. Everything is set and it will happen but it’s a slow process — it has to be reviewed at the State level and we expect approval in February,” Foster said. “We have the designs and the drawings and we already have a buyer for the bonds, we just can’t proceed. We can’t break ground until we have the approval.”

The dentist facility is something we want to give top priority to, Foster said.

“Dentistry for us is important. We can’t build it fast enough to keep up with the demand for it,” Foster said. “Traditionally, dentistry doesn’t have the insurance coverage medicine has.”
It was something that became most apparent when the state of California stopped the Medi-Cal coverage of dental procedures, Foster said.

“That hit us hard. We were one of the few providers around to accept Medi-Cal and when they did that, we lost about $2 million. We did OK anyway. We managed. But it was the first time ever we had a reduction in forces. We had to lay off a few people.”
Dentistry services did not stop though, Foster said. The clinic continued offering the services but moved the patients from Medi-Cal to a sliding-fee scale.

In addition to the new dental plans, the medical establishment will receive a new pharmacy.
“We’re also renovating to accommodate a full-blown pharmacy for full-range pharmaceutical dispensing right there in our Porterville site,” Foster said. “We’re opening it with the idea to do some telemedicine type of telepharmacy.”

Porterville’s facility had a pharmacy in the late 1980s, Foster said, but it was not cost-effective. The new pharmacy will be approximately 900 square feet and it is anticipated to be started by mid February, Foster said.

“We started the renovations. We have done all the tearing down and are now in the building back up again stage,” Foster said.

Family HealthCare Network has other projects scheduled for 2011 at some of their other sites, including a 27,000 square foot addition to its 20,000 square foot clinic in Visalia, new facilities in Woodlake, Goshen and Farmersville.

“They are all in the planning stages. We have talked to architects and they are working on the designs,” Foster said.

Besides contributing to growth, Family HealthCare Network is also contributing significantly to the community.

With more than 650 full-time employees, including an approximate 170 in the Porterville/Springville area, Family HealthCare Network delivers a payroll of approximately $48.8 million. And realizing that each dollar spent helps generate $10 of more spending — Foster said he estimates Family HealthCare Network is responsible for contributing an approximate $4.8 billion into the local economy.

Family HealthCare Network also plans to continue to be involved in the community in 2011 — with health fairs and other local programs.

But regardless how much it grows or how involved it may be in the community, challenges are always present — and one challenge faced again and again is that there are not enough specialists willing to work with their patients, Foster said.

“I would say 7 percent of our visits — about 35,000 patients a year — are referred to specialists when we feel we can’t do something for them. But very few specialists will see our patients," Foster said. "Many of them do not take them if they have no insurance, have Medi-Cal or are private-pay. Sometimes we have to refer them all the way to the Bay Area or to the Los Angeles area."

Contact Esther Avila at 784-5000, Ext. 1045 or eavila@portervillerecorder.com.