Union Community Care will take over the operation of Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health’s three school-based health clinics in the School District of Lancaster, the three organizations announced this week.
The clinics are at Carter McRae Elementary School, George Washington Elementary School and J.P. McCaskey High School. The changeover will take place July 1. The change will not affect the health services the clinics provide, SDL said.
Union Community Care is a federally qualified health center, a form of nonprofit that is specifically focused on providing health care to at-risk and underserved populations. It already operates clinics at Fulton Elementary School, Reynolds Middle School and La Academia Charter School.
It accepts all health insurance plans, offers payment plans and has a sliding fee discount program based on need.
“Union Community Care and the School District of Lancaster have had a strong history of collaboration,” said Dr. Anne-Marie Derrico, chief medical officer at Union Community Care and a physician consultant to SDL. “Transitioning school-based health care from LG Health to Union Community Care is a natural evolution of that collaboration.”
Adding three more schools, she said, “will allow us to provide affordable, convenient, and seamlessly coordinated healthcare services to students and families across the School District of Lancaster and in our community.”
Union Community Care has hired a program coordinator to oversee its school-based health centers, and will be bringing on additional personnel to staff the clinics, spokeswoman Nicole Specht said.
The clinics will be open year-round, she said. Hours of operation are still being decided.
LG Health opened its first SDL-based health clinic at Fulton Elementary School in 1992; Union Community Care assumed operations there early this year.
After adding clinics at Carter & McRae and George Washington Elementary, LG Health opened at McCaskey High School in 2016. Its three clinics provided more than 2,500 healthcare appointments a year to SDL students and staff.
“During our 30-year partnership with the School District of Lancaster, we proactively addressed health-related barriers to learning,” said John Herman, LG Health CEO.
LG Health will continue to provide SDL $1.5 million a year as a payment in lieu of taxes, or PILOT. It funds the hiring of certified school nurses and counselors and underwrites social-emotional support programs, Acting Superintendent Matt Przywara said.
