The Greater Hudson Valley
Family Health Center, Inc.
OUR HISTORY AND MISSION
INSURANCE COVERAGE FOR YOU AND YOUR FAMILY
Forty years ago, four VISTA volunteers came to the Newburgh area in response to a need that they saw to help provide basic health care to the many migrant workers and their families in the area. The organization they created has become The Greater Hudson Valley Family Health Center Inc. Our mission is to provide high quality, comprehensive, primary and preventative health care services in an environment of caring, respect, and dignity. From our humble beginnings, our Center now provides more than 14,000 adults and children in our region with their comprehensive health care. Last year, we provided primary and preventative health care services totaling more than 62,000 patient visits.
The Greater Hudson Valley Family Health Center, Inc. is an organization licensed to operate by the State of New York as an Article 28 Diagnostic and Treatment Center. It also is recognized by the Federal Government as a Section 330 Federally Qualified Health Center. Our Center also operates with the following designations: Medically Underserved Area (MUA), Medically Underserved Population (MUP), and serving in a Health Professionals Shortage Area (HPSA).
The GHVFHC offers a wide array of services in a comprehensive primary care system including: Pediatrics, Adult Medicine, Endocrinology, Allergy Immunology, Obstetrics and Gynecology (OB/GYN), Podiatry, Dental Care Services, WIC, HIV/AIDS, Behavioral Health Services, Social Work Services, Homeless Services, Outreach, Enabling Services, Nutrition Services, and participation in Phase II of the national CVD Collaborative. All providers, including Certified Nurse Midwife, are Board Certified and have admitting privileges at our local hospital, St. Luke’s Cornwall Hospital thus ensuring comprehensive continuity of care.
Our staff of more than 140 employees includes 14 Board Certified Physicians, and Dentists, a number of physician’s assistants and nurse practitioners, a large nursing staff, phlebotomists and laboratory professionals, and social work and counseling staff. We also have on site at our primary care facility at 3 Washington Center, a full service pharmacy, Hudson View Pharmacy, that serves not only the patients of the Family Health Center, but the public as well. A large number of our employees are bilingual in Spanish, and the Family Health Center makes every effort to provide health care services through translation in several other languages as well.
Over the last several years, our services and the locations of our services have grown substantially. We have opened new Women’s, Infant and Children’s offices in both Newburgh, and in Highland Falls. Our HIV/AIDS programs have opened an outreach center in downtown Newburgh, OB/GYN services at a new facility at 91 Blooming Grove Turnpike in New Windsor and in November 2005 we assumed the provision of chemical dependence services in the City of Newburgh that had previously been provided by another institution, The Center for Recovery.
A core component of our mission is to provide high quality medical care to all who require our service regardless of a patient’s ability to pay for services. Although a significant proportion of our patients are enrolled in federal or state health insurance programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, Family or Child Health Plus, a large number of the patients who utilize our services have their own medical insurance. The Greater Hudson Valley Family Health Center, Inc. participates with a wide array of medical insurance companies that offer coverage to individuals and families in the Mid-Hudson Valley. Please click on the link to take you to our Insurances Page (click here) to learn about those companies that participate with us in covering health care services at our Center and other facilities. However, if you do not have insurance, click on our Insurances Page for assistance. We have staff members who can assist you and your family with identifying insurance programs that you might be eligible for, and facilitating your enrollment in these programs. Our core mission remains to provide primary and preventative medical services to any who need our service regardless of ability to pay.
As a Community Health Center we work very hard to provide the highest quality of medical service at the most economical level of cost. Studies have shown that when a Medicaid eligible patient comes to a Community Health Center, he receives health care services at a cost 30% lower than the average that Medicaid reimburses for health care received elsewhere by a patient, whether it is with a general practitioner, or in a hospital emergency room. The bottom line is that the Greater Hudson Valley Family Health Center saves government insurance programs such as Medicaid more than the money that Medicaid pays to them by providing highly competent health care, at extremely efficient cost, without sacrificing quality of care for our patients.
Over the last year, we have begun several efforts to better serve our patients. We have greatly expanded the number of bilingual staff available to assist patients and providers in communicating about critical health care issues. We have also reduced our wait time for most patients through better scheduling and other techniques. Earlier this year, every employee of the Greater Hudson Valley Family Health Center completed a comprehensive course in Customer Service Improvement that we hope will result in even further improvements in how we serve our patients and their needs.
As you browse through our web site, you will see much more about our ambitious plans for the future, including our plan to build a completely new state-of-the-art primary care facility for our patients and their families. Once this facility is built we hope to further expand the specialty and subspecialty care that we can offer to our patients, making it even easier for customers to receive most if not all of their health care at one location, and often, through one visit.
Mission Statement:
