Good Samaritan Health Center, Inc.

The Center’s goals are to provide a quality, comprehensive healthcare home for the whole family that will result in improved health for our patients; to reduce barriers to access of care, including financial need, language, and limited ability to take time away from work; and to provide a safety net for healthcare and reduce the demand on emergency care facilities:

Provide quality, comprehensive healthcare to the whole family. We offer a comprehensive approach to an individual’s or family’s health by offering medical, dental, mental health and health education services in one location to children, adults, men and women. Because The Center has so many specialists who volunteer, patients can come back to The Center for most of their referrals and can often see a specialist on the same day a specific problem is identified.
Reduce barriers to access of care. The major barrier of access to care for the poor is financial. Patients at Good Samaritan pay for services using a reduced sliding fee scale based upon their income. The cost of a visit may range from a few dollars to fifty dollars. The homeless receive care at no charge. The barrier of taking time away from work and arranging transportation is reduced by allowing families to schedule appointments for more than one family member at one time. Our focus on providing high quality healthcare eliminates the need for costly additional travel to another location. We provide interpreters for patients facing language barriers.
Improve health in our patients and reduce demand on emergency care facilities. The Good Samaritan Health Center is a true healthcare home that offers continuity of care to our patients. Each time they visit The Center, they can make an appointment with the same provider. Patients who receive regular primary healthcare have overall improved health and earlier detection of problems. Early detection means less invasive and costly treatment. In addition, our mammogram screenings, well-prenatal care program, nutrition education, teaching kitchen, and diabetes education program provide crucial preventive care for those who do not usually have access to it.

The Center is a nationally recognized Patient-Centered Medical Home for the uninsured working poor, the homeless, and those recently unemployed who lack access to services and cannot afford care. Patients from the entire metropolitan Atlanta area and parts of North Georgia receive care at The Center. In 2012, The Center provided 28,000 patient visits for medical, dental, mental health, and health education services to the homeless (15% of our patient visits), low-income individuals and families who have no health insurance (76% of our visits), and those who are Medicaid/Medicare eligible (9% of our visits). In 2018 our total patient encounters were over 37,000.

Good Samaritan provides healthcare to the neediest in our community with five broad areas of service: medical, dental, social, health education and mental health counseling. Specifically, our services include pediatric and adult medical care, well prenatal care, cardiology, gastroenterology, pulmonology, radiology, gynecology, ophthalmology, orthopedics, mammography, laboratory, vaccines, physical therapy, general family dentistry, endodontics, oral surgery, prosthodontics, individual and family mental health counseling, developmental services, nutrition education, teaching kitchen, and diabetes education. Specialty care clinics for vein, dermatology, prosthetics, pediatric developmental, and orthopedic spine extend our ability to provide quality health care. In 2013, The Center added an urban farm project to provide access to healthy food for patients and the community in partnership with the Southeastern Horticulture Society.

Good Samaritan serves the greater metropolitan Atlanta area, with the majority of our patients living in Fulton and DeKalb counties. Our services are provided on a greatly reduced sliding fee scale based on patient income and household size. Those who are unable to pay receive care at no charge. Patients are 34% African American, 50% Hispanic/Latino, 8% Caucasian, 2% Asian, and 6% other. Patients are both adults and children. The Center provides services to all people regardless of race, ethnic background, religious affiliation, gender, or sexual orientation.

Good Samaritan Health Center is now a Nationally Recognized Patient-Centered Medical Home.

To become a National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) Recognized Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH), a primary care practice learns the NCQA PCMH concepts and required criteria and begins the transformation process. NCQA conducts online check-ins to assess the practice’s progress and discuss the next steps in the evaluation. A practice that meets the criteria earns NCQA recognition.

NCQA’s Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) Recognition program is the most widely adopted PCMH evaluation program in the country. NCQA recognizes approximately 13,000 practices (with 67,000 clinicians).

A process that first began in 2018 with grant funding and consultants from Americares concluded in October. Good Samaritan Health Center is now among one of the first reduced-cost charitable care clinics to receive this national designation.