St. Mary's Health Clinics

Whom do we serve?

St. Mary’s Health Clinics provide a critical safety net for the unmet and increasing health care needs of low income uninsured families and individuals in the community. Currently, St. Mary’s Health Clinics assist more than 9,000 patient visits annually through the following programs.

Neighborhood Clinics. Volunteer physicians and nurses provide medically necessary health care to patients at nine community clinic sites located in churches, schools, and community centers in the Twin Cities metropolitan area. All medically necessary lab tests, radiology, and outpatient care is provided free to eligible patients through arrangements with hospitals and other health care providers. Additionally, all patients receive specialist physician services and prescription medications free of charge.

St. Mary’s Health Clinics at Park Nicollet. St. Mary’s Health Clinics also partner with Park Nicollet Health Services to provide preventive and primary medical health care at designated Park Nicollet Clinics to St. Mary’s Health Clinics’ uninsured patients.

Eliminating Health Disparities Project. St. Mary’s Health Clinics work to reduce health disparities in the Latino population through a major education and outreach initiative conducted in collaboration with three Latino parishes. St. Mary’s Health Clinics provide health education, cancer and diabetes screening, and health promotion activities. The outreach initiative increases access to care by eliminating barriers to health care and promoting screening, early treatment, and healthy behaviors.

To be eligible for care through St. Mary’s Health Clinics a patient must be without health insurance (although if a person has catastrophic insurance only they may qualify), and cannot be receiving assistance from any government subsidy program such as Medicare, Medical Assistance, or MinnesotaCare.

Patients must also fall within the modest income guidelines that we have established. People who are temporarily unemployed or who are working in low-paying full-time or part-time jobs, who do not receive any health care benefits or cannot afford the employee portion of the premium are examples of those we serve.

We also serve those in transition between jobs and those awaiting eligibility for government subsidy programs. Most of our patients are between 19 and 54 years of age and reflect the ethnic culture of the poor in the metropolitan area.

St. Mary’s Health Clinics achieved the following outcomes last year:
· 5,320 primary care visits at nine clinic locations
· 7,142 primary care patient encounters at Park Nicollet clinic locations
· 7,246 prescription medications provided to low income, uninsured people
· 1,131 patients received at least one specialist physician visit
· More than 4,000 lab tests provided to low income, uninsured people
· More than 1,300 health screenings (glucose testing, blood pressure, etc.)

Select Eliminating Health Disparities Program recent outcomes:
· 950 clinic appointments for treatment and care of diabetes by Latinos
· 688 clinic appointments for Pap smears made by adult Latino Women
· 326 mammograms completed for adult Latino women
· 22% of adult Latino women returned to St. Mary’s Health Clinic for follow-up pap smears and/or treatment.
· 28% of adult Latino women returned to St. Mary’s Health Clinic for follow-up mammograms and/or treatment.
· 45% of diabetic Latino patients have continued to receive diabetic clinical care for greater than one year.