On October 11 -13, 2016, three surveyors for Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) Bureau of Primary Health Care (BPHC) completed an Operational Site Visit at Grace Health (GH). Since GH is a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC), there are a total of 19 federal program requirements GH has to meet. At the end of the assessment, the surveyors gave GH the highest rating and informed GH management and Board of Directors that all 19 program requirements have been met. GH also met all 19 program requirements during its previous site visit in 2012. It is rare for a health center to meet all 19 requirements: the surveyors commented it is extremely rare to meet all 19 requirements two times in a row.
The purpose of HRSA’s Operational Site Visit is to provide an objective assessment and verification that each Health Center Program grantee is in compliance with statutory and regulatory requirements of the Health Center Program, as well as a review of progress on clinical and financial performance. Site Visits are performed at least once during the Health Center’s project period (approximately every 3 years). The three main categories reviewed for the 19 program requirements include: Services, Management and Finance, and Governance.
GH first received Community Health Center (CHC) designation from the government in 1992 and in 2007 also received designation as Health Care for Homeless (HCH). GH is the largest CHC in Calhoun County and provided over 132,000 services for just over 30,000 patients in 2015. It is anticipated almost 140,000 services will be provided in 2016. If you have questions or would like more information about GH, call 269-965-8866 or visit the website at www.gracehealthmi.org.
