MUSKEGON COUNTY, MI – As many as 20,000 patients in Muskegon County, many of them with low income, would be without a health care provider if Muskegon Family Care in Muskegon closes its doors.

Concerned Muskegon Family Care patients have begun calling for help from Hackley Community Care, the community’s other large medical and dental clinic, but it is not equipped to handle the influx, said HCC Chief Executive Officer Linda Juarez.

“We’re trying to manage the chaos right now,” Juarez said.

MLive was unable to contact anyone at Muskegon Family Care, and a post on its Facebook page said it was experiencing phone problems due to a very large call volume.

Juarez said she tried reaching out to Muskegon Family Care “numerous times” as rumors of its financial difficulties began surfacing a few weeks ago. She said she hasn’t heard back from Muskegon Family Care administration, but learned of the clinic’s apparent planned closing after staff there began receiving emails on Friday, Feb. 14, telling them they would no longer have jobs.

“We want to be part of the solution, but you cannot do this overnight,” Juarez said of helping displaced patients.

Juarez added that she heard a “transition plan” was being developed.

Dori Peters, spokeswoman for Public Health Muskegon County, said leadership there has heard the clinic is closing but “haven’t received anything official.”

Muskegon Family Care, 2201 S. Getty in Muskegon Heights, provides medical and dental care primarily to Medicaid-eligible patients and is associated with a medical clinic that dates back to 1973.

It has operated on an approximately $20 million budget, according to its 2018 audit. Among it services are medical, dental, mental and behavior health, pharmacy and women’s care.

In 2018, it had 20,670 patients, according to the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration’s Bureau of Primary Health. Nearly 79 percent of those patients were at or below the poverty level, and more than 13,000 were eligible for Medicaid, according to the Bureau of Primary Health.

The closure of the clinic would be a second blow to women, particularly those who are low income, as it comes on the heels of the departure of Planned Parenthood in July 2019 after it lost its space at Public Health Muskegon County.

Juarez said she’s particularly concerned about pregnant women, and said local emergency departments will likely see a large increase in people seeking care.

“People will fall through the cracks,” she said. “They just will.”

Jane Johnson, director of Muskegon County Department of Health and Human Services, said she too had heard that Muskegon Family Care’s was experiencing “challenges.”

“I think as a community we’ll come together to determine how we’ll address needs,” Johnson said. "That’s the commitment we would make -- that we would figure it out.”

Muskegon Family Care previously operated as Mercy General Health Care and prior to that was the Koinonia Medical Clinic.

A federal audit found “significant deficiencies” in 2017. Details were not immediately available. However, Muskegon Family Care’s own audit did not find anything significant, but rather one “material weakness” that year.

Also in 2017, the federal Bureau of Primary Health Care conducted a multi-day onsite review of Muskegon Family Care’s operations to determine its compliance with regulations, Scott Kodish, spokesman for the Health Resources and Services Administration, told MLive/Muskegon Chronicle in an email in January. He added that Muskegon Family Care “currently has no conditions on their grant.”

Muskegon Family Care has previously been in trouble with the federal government, which determined it had not properly tracked federal funding and failed to comply with its own bylaws from 2010-2014, according to documents obtained by the Muskegon Chronicle in 2014.

Some of the requirements Muskegon Family Care failed to meet were related to staffing, board authority, fiscal management and contractual agreements.

Some of the lapses noted included paying a volunteer board member stipend and consulting fees, planning and implementing a celebrity fundraiser that caused the health center to lose several thousand dollars, purchasing personal items using a company credit card and issuing tuition funds to Muskegon Family Care CEO Sheila Bridges that exceeded the amount allowed by the clinic's reimbursement program.

In 2014, a “Fire Shelia (sic) Bridges (Muskegon Family Care)” private Facebook group was created to “keep communication between all individuals who are seeking justice for the numerous wrongdoings that have been occurring at Muskegon Family Care.” Those injustices allegedly created by Bridges and other named administrators were listed as misappropriation of funds, inappropriate denial of patients and intimidation of staff.

Bridges was CEO until recently, and the clinic has been run by an interim administrator, according to the Muskegon Family Care website.

Read more:

Federal review finds Muskegon Family Care didn’t properly track federal funds

Findings from federal review of Muskegon Family Care

Planned Parenthood’s eviction stirs debate over Muskegon County’s family-planning