Recently, the U of M’s Community-University Health Care Center began receiving three new federal grants to fund additional clinic services. Totaling $744,000 over two years, the grants from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will allow the Community-University Health Care Center at the University of Minnesota to begin providing combined substance abuse and mental health screenings for approximately 80 percent of patients over age 12. Patients at high risk for mental illness or substance abuse will have easier access to preventative screenings as a result.
The new funds will also expand medical and dental services to approximately 200 new dental patients and 200 new primary care patients annually. Health Care Homes certification is also new to the Center.
“We’re excited to be able to expand our services to patients, and be able to provide new opportunities to the next generation of health care providers we train,” said Deanna Mills, executive director of the Community-University Health Care Center.
Patient care and training opportunities will grow thanks to the Center’s new partnership with the south Minneapolis-based Native American Community Clinic and the Indian Health Board of Minneapolis.
“We’re teaching our students an interprofessional model of care,” said Mills. “Now, they’ll be working together with a mental health care provider in a way they hadn’t been before … not to mention additional dental and primary care staff interaction.” Students and residents also might expect to see more patients from the Native American community than they had previously.
Expanded training opportunities for the 250 students and residents who cycle through the Community-University Health Care Center each year will result in additional culturally-competent, team-based health care for Minnesotans.
Funding for the expanded services stems from the Affordable Care Act.
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