The Cascade County Commission approved the disbursement of $408,536.66 to the Community Health Care Center as part of the process of CHCC becoming an independent agency.

The CHCC had notified the commission in April of its plans to separate from the county.

Community Health Care Center, Cascade County continuing steps to formalize split

The commission authorized the CHCC to accumulate reserve funding within its operating budget so that it would have capital reserves to draw upon prior to final separating from the county.

New dental clinic space allows Community Health Care Center to increase patient capacity

The funds were generated by CHCC operations and are not taxpayer dollars, according to county officials and Trista Besich, CHCC executive director.

Commissioner Joe Briggs said during last week’s commission that “these are dollars generated by fees for service. This is part of a long term plan.”

There was no public comment during last week’s meeting and fund disbursement was approved 2-0 with Commissioner Jane Weber absent.

Some Community Health Care Center staff moving to courthouse annex, CHCC separating from county

The center is federally funded and open to those at 200 percent of the poverty level or below. Besich said there are 32,000 people in Cascade County in that category.

The federal poverty level for 2018, according to healthcare.gov, is $12,140 for an individual and 200 percent of the poverty level is $24,280.

The center is set up as a non-profit with a governing board.

Cascade County City-County Health Department opened the center in 1994 to support increased access to care for the uninsured, underinsured and underserved patients. In 2012, the CHCC started operating as a separate department within the county with a long-term goal of becoming an independent agency, according to CHCC.

CHCC recently opened its new dental clinic in the Machinery Row building and has been expanding operations significantly over the last year by adding several new providers. The center has also been shifting office space around to make more room for medical services.