SUMMIT COUNTY — With the economy still staggering and job layoffs continuing, Summit County's health care landscape — from social services to cosmetic elective surgery — is shifting. Administrators are seeing a rising number people without medical and/or dental insurance, the need for social-service programs are increasing and elective surgeries are on the decline.

With increasing job loss and costly insurance premiums, social-service programs in the county are bearing the brunt of economic impacts.

Summit Community Care Clinic, a health care service that aids uninsured people in the community, has seen a 10- to 15-percent increase in patient visits over this time last year, said Sarah Vaine, the executive director of the clinic.

“We're seeing a lot of people whose status has changed,” Vaine said. “They've lost jobs or their insurance premiums have gone up. They're making choices between rent, mortgage or health care.”

And the number of new patients has increased dramatically, Vaine said.

Though the clinic is providing needed, cost-effective care for the community, its services could also be at risk due to state budget cuts.

“$100,000 was chopped out of our primary care fund,” Vaine said. “It's been really stressful. We have fewer people doing more. Our resources are stretched really thin.”

Money is available for federally qualified health care clinics through the government stimulus package, but funding isn't available for the Care Clinic because it doesn't accept Medicaid and Medicare.

“We're only for people who don't have any insurance,” Vaine said, adding that she hopes for continued community support, including fundraisers, donations and volunteers.

Social-service programs

Summit County Social Services is also seeing an increase in people needing assistance.

According to Joanne Sprouse, manager of the benefits department, she's seeing a definite increase in people applying for Medicaid.

“Lots of people come in because they've lost their medical care, but they're not qualified because unemployment benefits put them over income requirements (or for other reasons),” she said. Even so, more people in Summit County are qualifying for Medicaid since last year.

Other non-medical related social service programs have also seen a jump in use.

The food assistance program has seen the biggest growth in need — it's up 60 percent from last year at this time because people are losing their jobs, Sprouse said.

Additionally, Social Service's temporary assistance program for needy families has tripled — 15 cases as opposed to the normal five cases.

“It's usually a small case load,” Sprouse said. “It's really hard to qualify because of the low-income standard.”

The need for child-care assistance has also doubled, due to a combination of people losing jobs and Social Services making it easier to qualify for it.

Hospital care

Though economic hardship hasn't created a dramatic change in service at St. Anthony Summit Medical Center, the use of Medicaid at the hospital has gone up 12 percent from last year.

“Things have shifted as economics have changed,” said Paul Chodkowski, chief executive officer at St. Anthony Summit Medical Center.

Bad debt and charity care has also gone up 6.5 percent from last year, Chodkowski said — “We're writing off more of those claims.”

To help more than 100,000 uninsured Colorado residents get better health-care coverage, Gov. Bill Ritter recently signed the Colorado Healthcare Affordability Act, which allows hospitals to charge provider fees to cover the cost of aiding uninsured patients.

“It isn't in effect yet,” Chodkowski said. “It phases in at the beginning of next year. It could provide funding for additional enrollment of uninsured into Medicaid. We're all for it.”

But, despite a shift in economics, the number of surgeries at Peak One Surgery Center and St. Anthony's are up over the previous year.

“If you have an injury, in most cases that will be covered,” Chodkowski said.

Elective surgeries

But, shaky economics have definitely impacted elective cosmetic surgeries, such as liposuction, breast augmentation, rhinoplasty and tummy tucks.

“Yes, it's down,” said Dr. Scott Sulentich, a plastic surgeon who practices in Summit County.

According to Sulentich, the “large majority” of people who want elective plastic surgery are putting it off due to financial concerns.

Elective surgeries are still being done, but numbers have lessened. There are people who are either aren't affected by the recession or who are still going ahead with procedures because they've already planned and saved for it.

To stimulate his business, Sulentich — who practices throughout the mountain region — offered a discount earlier this year on all surgeries scheduled within a certain time frame.

“We benefited from it for sure,” Sulentich said. “There were people out there saying ‘I really want to do it, but I can't afford it.'”

Caitlin Row can be reached at (970) 668-4633 or at crow@summitdaily.com.