Your experience at a non-profit community health center, like Sweet Medical Center (SMC) may be a little different than you’re accustomed to. A few things you may notice:

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Extra Questions

Since our insurance and some of our funding comes from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Resources and Services Administration, we are held to very strict standards of care and must keep immaculate records and statistics to ensure that we are positively impacting the health of our patients and communities.

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We apologize for the inconvenience of answering extra questions, but will try to make it as painless as possible and encourage you remind yourself it’s for a good cause.

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The team at SMC is committed to making our patients’ experience as pleasant as possible. We will survey you often to ensure we’re meeting your expectations. We appreciate your honesty in helping us be the best we can be.

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HealthShare Partnership

SMC is committed to helping our patients afford healthcare. We ask every patient to complete our HealthShare Partnership (HSP) assessment to ensure we’re doing all we can to help. (If you know your income is above the 200% poverty level listed, simply write declined.) If you do qualify for assistance, based on completion of the application and income verification, your appointments will be discounted based on the sliding fee level associated with your household income and family size. HSP eligibility also qualifies SMC patients for assistance with dental, vision and mental health services, pharmacy and transportation assistance for medical services. The program can even discount amounts not covered by insurance. See more

 

Certified Application Counselors

Another way we help our patients access healthcare is by keeping employees trained so that they can help patients apply for Medicare, Medicaid or Marketplace Insurance. We’d love to help you sign up or see if you qualify, please ask if you’d like assistance.

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Accessibility

SMC wants to make it easy for patients to get help with their healthcare needs. We open the Harlem clinic three days per week (Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, 8am-5pm) for patients’ convenience. Our Chinook clinic is open Monday through Friday from 7:15am until 5:45pm. We provide an online patient portal as well as a mobile application called Healow to allow you 24/7 access to your records, labs and appointments. Our telephone number (406.357.2294) is transferred to an after-hours answering service and nurse line when we’re closed so that patients can get advice when they need it. As always, please call 911 for emergency medical assistance.

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Coordinated Care

As a Patient Centered Medical Home, SMC takes pride in being our patients’ partner in managing their health. To do this, we will ask you to give us permission to obtain your records from previous providers and we also need to be sent the records when you see a specialist or other provider once you’re an established SMC patient. Always inform other providers that SMC is your medical home when you see them. This will assist us in managing your overall care with you and any other providers as prevention and early diagnosis are the keys to a longer, healthier, happier life!