Alachua County’s Healthcare and Social Services Safety Net

 

The Oxford Dictionary defines a safety net as “a safeguard against possible hardship or adversity.” In 2000, the Institute of Medicine¹ (now National Academy of Medicine) identified healthcare safety net providers as the institutions and professionals who, by mandate or mission, deliver a significant amount of health care and other services to uninsured, Medicaid and other patients with unmet socio-economic needs.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services² recognizes social safety net programs that provide critical support to people during times of economic hardship and recognizes that hardship and economic instability often require support from more than one program or service.

Examples of healthcare safety net providers in Alachua County include:

Medical Care

  • DOH-Alachua County

  • Grace Healthcare Services Corp.

  • Helping Hands Clinic

  • Palms Medical Group Federally Qualified Health Center Clinics

  • RHAMA Mercy Clinic

  • UF Equal Access Clinics Network

  • UF Health Shands

  • UF Mobile Outreach Clinic

  • Westside Samaritan’s Clinic

Oral Health/Dental

  • Alachua County Organization for Rural Needs (ACORN) Dental Clinic

  • Azalea (Aza) Health Dental Clinic

  • DOH-Alachua County

  • Santa Fe College Dental Clinic

  • UF Health College of Dentistry Dental Clinic

Mental and Behavioral Health

  • Meridian Behavioral Healthcare

Examples of social services safety providers are:

  • Alachua County Community Support Services

  • Bread of the Mighty Food Bank

  • Center for Independent Living – North Central Florida

  • City of Gainesville’s Community Health Program

  • DOH-Alachua County

  • Released Reentry

  • ElderCare

  • ElderOptions (a.k.a. Mid-Florida Area Agency on Aging)

  • Gainesville Fire Rescue – Community Resource Paramedicine (CRP) Program

  • Gainesville Regional Alachua County Empowerment (GRACE) Marketplace

  • Rural Women’s Health Project

  • Suwannee River Area Health Education Center (AHEC)

  • UF HealthStreet

  • WellFlorida Council (a.k.a. North Central Florida Health Planning Council)

  • Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) Supplemental Nutrition Program

References:

  1. Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on the Changing Market, Managed Care, and the Future Viability of Safety Net Providers; Ein Lewin M, Altman S, editors. Americas's Health Care Safety Net: Intact but Endangered. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); 2000. 1, Background and Overview. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK224519

  2. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Program Participation, Social Safety Net Services. https://aspe.hhs.gov/topics/poverty-economic-mobility/program-participation