New JPS medical clinic in far southwest Fort Worth moves closer to construction
The first construction project of the $1.2 billion overhaul of Tarrant County’s JPS Health Network moved one step closer to breaking ground Tuesday.
Tarrant County commissioners identified three companies to handle the design and construction of a health clinic in far southwest Fort Worth. The project would be the first of many more to come through the JPS bond program.
Tarrant County commissioners selected three companies — Byrne Construction Services, Post L Group, and SBL Architecture — as their top choice to build the clinic, known as a “medical home.” But the companies haven’t yet been hired. They still need to develop and agree to a contract with JPS and Broaddus-LeVis, which is managing the bond program for JPS. County commissioners will provide the final signoff on a contract between JPS and the companies. Construction could begin later this fall, depending on how long contract negotiation last.
Ultimately, the hospital plans to build four clinics in Tarrant County to increase access to primary care, adding to its existing network of neighborhood clinics.
County Judge Glen Whitley said Tuesday he still hopes to move forward on all four clinics as soon as possible. Last month, he suggested having the same groups design and build all four clinics, instead of having different contractors for each project.
“We need to move on with all four of these medical homes as soon as possible,” Whitley said. “I saw no reason why it needed to be two or three more years before we completed the medical homes.”
What is a medical home?
A medical home allows patients to get a range of services in a convenient and accessible way, said Melinda Abrams, an expert on medical homes and the executive vice president for programs at the Commonwealth Fund, a nonprofit health care research group.
Medical homes are meant to be a step away from the doctors’ offices of yesteryear, Abrams said, where “it takes so long to get an appointment, you wait for two hours, there’s only one physician, and that’s the only person you see.”
Instead, a patient at a medical home might meet with a doctor and a social worker, and get their prescription filled on site. Or, Abrams said, the office might be proactive in calling patients to ask if they’re up-to-date on their vaccinations, or how well they’re managing their diabetes in between appointments. Medical homes are also meant to be responsive to the community they serve. In a neighborhood with an aging population, a medical home could have more workers on staff to help manage chronic diseases. In a community with lots of people with substance use disorders, a medical home might employ more social workers.
“A traditional practice waits for people to show up with problems, as opposed to proactively reaching out to help manage those problems,” Abrams said.
Abrams said much of the research on medical homes suggests that it provides better patient care and reduces health care costs.
“If we could get every practice to embrace and implement the principles and features of a medical home, we’d have much stronger primary care,” she said.
The U.S. spends much less on primary care than other wealthy nations. Last year, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine published a major report warning that “in large part because of chronic underinvestment, primary care in the United States is slowly dying.” Only about 5% of U.S. health care spending goes to primary care, according to the report.
What’s next for the $1.2 billion bond
JPS and the recommended contractors will begin to work on a contract in the coming weeks. That process will include surveying the community to determine major needs for the first medical home. An exact location for the clinic is still being determined.
In 2018, Tarrant County voters approved an $800 million bond to finance upgrades to the health system. The project will also include a redesign of a main hospital and a behavioral health inpatient hospital.
This story was originally published April 6, 2022 at 5:30 AM.
