MACC to the rescue

Kevin Brown doesn't know what would have happened if he hadn't found the Medical Access for Catawba County program.

The 43-year-old Hickory resident found himself in the hospital in March, diagnosed with congestive heart failure. He had no medical insurance.

"I was in the hospital for a couple of months, and I couldn't afford the medicine," Brown said.

So he came to the Greater Hickory Cooperative Christian Ministry to see how that organization could help him. There, he learned about the MACC program where physicians offer to treat uninsured patients for $5 each office visit. Those patients are able to get prescriptions filled at the pharmacy at GHCCM for a $10 annual fee.

Rosemary King, member of the MACC board of trustees, said the year-old program is an offshoot of a health study conducted in Catawba County in 2007. That study showed access to medical care is a high priority for the county's residents. The study showed most uninsured residents are between the ages of 18 and 64, typically a person's working years.

"The Catawba County Medical Society wanted to do something for the community," King said.

That group partnered with the Catawba County Health Partners and the Catawba County Health Department and decided to create the program for the uninsured.

They started by applying for and receiving a three-year grant from the Kate B. Reynolds Fund for $200,000 that went toward the hiring of Rhonda Roby, who coordinates the program.

GHCCM, which already ran a medical clinic, was chosen to house and administer the program
"The MACC Program is different from the clinic in that the medical providers see the patients in their regular offices," said Roger Baker, GHCCM CEO. "It grew out of Healthy Carolinians, which identified access to health care as its number one priority."

Dr. David Duralia, a family practice physician with Unifour Family Practice in Hickory, is a participating physician with MACC and the president of the Catawba County Medical Society. He said he got excited about the program when he, along with other society members, went to Buncombe County to learn about a similar program there.

He said "seeing people who don't qualify for Medicaid, who have no insurance through their jobs, seeing how many people are uninsured and realizing what it would do as far as cost savings," helped him decide to work with the program.

"It's the old ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure idea," he said.

The savings come from the lower rate of people using the emergency room as their primary care physician. That change saves taxpayers' dollars. Also, taking care of a medical condition can save in future medical bills for treating complications.

"With the economy as it is in general, a lot of people with chronic medical problems, if they can keep it under control, will benefit in the end," Duralia said.

To illustrate the effect of the current economy, Roby said most of the program's 636 clients are not homeless. She said it is a situation many can find themselves in and works to dispel some myths surrounding people asking for assistance.

"People have this idea of 'pulling themselves up by their bootstraps,' but if there's no resources, that's hard to do," she said.

The program is directed at chronic diseases — diabetes, COPD, heart disease and hypertension, for example.

Catawba Valley Medical Center and Frye Regional Medical Center are involved in the program, offering free imaging services to qualifying patients. The group is now focused on getting more specialists on board with the program.

"The medical community in this area is just amazing," Roby said. "We're very excited and right now the program's getting very crucial because more people don't have insurance. People are losing their jobs."

Brown is now back in good health, with the help of Dr. Dana Chambers, and working for The Salvation Army.

"I'm so thankful I found these people. They help me getting my medicine and I have my own doctor to go see," Brown said. "I'm happy I found this group, especially with my heart condition. Now I can a check on my heart."