Less than 15 months after opening, the Flint Hills Community Health Center’s clinic at Madison High School will close for good.
The clinic that opened in October 2017 suffered 12 straight months of financial losses, leading the Health Center to reluctantly announce its decision Friday to close the clinic Dec. 28. Chief Financial Officer Stephanie Ringgold says the final loss amount could be around $250,000.
Executive Director Renee Hively called it a tough decision. She also said at least two factors conspired against the clinic.
Ultimately, Hively said the school-based Madison clinic was a great concept that just didn’t have the turnout to survive.
Ringgold says FHCHC’s partnership with both USD 386 Madison-Virgil and the Madison community has been “supportive,” but the losses were just too much to sustain. She says the Health Center’s ongoing turnaround plan forces ” difficult decisions to be made to sustain long-term strategic viability for FHCHC as a whole.”
1:30 pm Friday: FHCHC closing Madison clinic effective Dec. 28
Next month, Flint Hills Community Health Center will close its Madison clinic.
The closure date is Dec. 28 and follows the opening of the clinic at Madison High School in the fall of 2017. Chief Financial Officer Stephanie Ringgold says FHCHC’s partnership with both USD 386 Madison-Virgil and the Madison community has been “supportive,” but “after 12 months of continued operational loss due to lower than anticipated productivity, the accumulative financial deficit for the Madison location is inhibiting FHCHC’s ability to invest in ongoing quality improvements at the other two solid performing clinics” in Emporia and Eureka.
A cumulative loss amount has not been announced.
“We are in the Business Restructuring phase of our 36-month Turnaround Plan,” Ringgold said, “which has required difficult decisions to be made to sustain long-term strategic viability for FHCHC as a whole.”
Executive Director Renee Hively agreed.
“The closing of the Madison clinic involved an in-depth analysis of the long-term financial viability and the impact on FHCHC’s entire organization,” she said.
The decision on the Madison clinic’s future follows Tuesday’s Board of Directors monthly meeting, where the Health Center as a whole lost roughly $12,000 in October. Following that meeting, Hively said there had been improvement in the Health Center’s cash on hand and overall financial stability.
A news release says the Emporia and Eureka facilities will remain open to provide care to residents in Madison and northern Greenwood County. FHCHC will also retain staff by moving them to the Emporia or Eureka locations.
Additional comments from Health Center administrators are pending.
