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Community Nurse named CountyCare provider
Updated: April 1, 2013 6:10AM
LA GRANGE — Community Nurse Health Association has been selected as a provider for a new Medicaid program for uninsured adults.
The designation as a CountyCare provider will benefit up to 500 patients of the La Grange-based agency and help stretch its dollars, said Executive Director Angela Curran.
Under the Affordable Care Act, Cook County applied for a waiver and was chosen to provide an early expansion of the federal Medicaid program. The county is offering CountyCare, a managed care program to uninsured adults.
Federal funding for the program stipulates services must be accessible throughout the county. Community Nurse was named as a west suburban site following a visit from Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle earlier this month.
“We’re estimating we have as many as 400 to 500 adults, either single households or dual ones without children, who are eligible,” Curran said. “This means we’ll actually get a Medicaid reimbursement for each of those patients.”
Community Nurse provides medical and dental care for low-income residents with little or no insurance in 17 communities of Lyons and Proviso townships. Services are provided through fundraising efforts, two resale shops, grants and donated medical expertise.
Curran estimates the agency will be reimbursed for 1,500 office visits a year, which could amount to an additional $150,000.
Community Nurse patients eligible for CountyCare also can receive counseling and other services through Pillars, a human services agency based in LaGrange Park and serving the same general area. Pillars also has been designated a CountyCare provider.
“It’s good for the patient in getting the same continuity of care,” Curran said.
