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Piedmont Health Services to receive $1.5 million in stimulus money

Posted on July 9, 2009 by Staff

By Kirk Ross
Staff Writer

Carrboro-based Piedmont Health Services will receive $1,531,035 from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

The funds are part of $20 million in stimulus money for community health centers in North Carolina announced last week by the office of U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan.

Piedmont CEO Brian Toomey said the funds come at an important time, as demand for the clinics are increasing.

Toomey said the demand started to jump even before the downturn in the economy.

“Since the economy tanked,” he said, “that demand has exploded.”

Piedmont operates six clinics in Alamance, Chatham, Orange and Caswell counties. Like most community health centers, Piedmont’s clinics charge for services on a sliding scale.

In addition to more patients seeking lower-cost health care, Toomey said there’s been an increase due to the success of a pilot program between Piedmont and the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce.

The number of seniors using Piedmont has also increased, Toomey said. Patients on Medicare “hitting the doughnut hole” in Medicare Part D are seeking ways to lower prescription drug prices. To take advantage of Piedmont’s lower pharmacy costs, he said many seniors are signing on as patients at the clinics.

According to Toomey, the bulk of the stimulus money, about $1.1 million, will go to replace an aging facility in Prospect Hill, which is located near the Orange and Caswell county line.

Another $150,000 is slated for equipment and expansion at the Carrboro clinic, including three additional examination rooms. Piedmont, which uses an electronic medial records system, will also purchase two back-up generators so that clinics can have access to records in case of long-term power outages. The stimulus grant will also pay for about $300,000 of upgrades and new equipment for the records system.

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