Crown Clinics Promotes Accessibility to Healthcare with Mobile Units
Written by Alyssa Clark
In a time where access to basic healthcare seems more like a blessing than an expectation, people around the U.S. are scrambling to try to find ways to have their basic healthcare needs respected and served. With most insurance plans now only covering major healthcare needs, the struggle for seeing a doctor for a routine check-up or preventative appointment can be costly to the out-of-pocket paying customer.
It was from this existing gap within today’s healthcare market that two nurse practitioners named Sue Brugman and Kate Nelson decided they wanted to take matters into their own hands, and bring preventive healthcare back to the public. These two women will be traveling with Crown Clinics, a mobile health clinic that was set up by Brugman and her husband, in order to bring more accessible and affordable healthcare services to the public. Brugman had already seen the success of mobile satellite clinics first-hand when she worked in orthopedics several years ago.
"They were grateful to have us come down even once a week," Brugman said. "It made me sit up and take notice of how we can provide for communities. We want to take the unit to communities on a regular basis, to improve their access to health care”.
This husband and wife team decided to develop Crown Clinics in order to better serve the state’s communities, providing basic medical care and services to its people. This mobile medical unit system includes a small reception area, a lab, two exam rooms and an x-ray machine that sends images to a radiology center in Omaha for reading.
Operating on an enrollment basis, one year of mobile unit service from Crown Clinics will cost $550, or the fees can be paid monthly at $50. These paid fees would cover all services rendered in the mobile units as well as at the base office in Royal.
"We noticed a trend in high deductibles," Brugman said "People are left with coverage for catastrophic situations, but are forced to pay out of pocket for the 'bread and butter' instances. If we can get people to come to a provider sooner after an injury, we can often avoid that injury becoming chronic," she continued.
One of the other huge targets that Crown Clinics hopes to focus on is predictability within healthcare, and taking the surprise out of expenses concerning healthcare needs.
"If people enroll, they know they can be treated for $50 a month or $550 a year," she said. "There are no surprises outside of a catastrophic situation. [The people] had never heard of something like this," she said. "They thought it was amazing."
The Crown Clinics mobile health unit was debuted at the Clay County Fair, at the south end of Innovation Pavilion. At the fair, Crown Clinics offered a special to the public fair-goers of getting an influenza vaccine for only $40. With fellow nurse practitioner Kate Nelson in tow, Crown Clinics is already doing its best to help the people of its much beloved state to receive the basic healthcare needs that they desperately need.
About the Author
Alyssa Clark is the Editor of Healthcare Global