ARcare

ARcare of Augusta has been providing health care at a discounted rate since 1986.
Founded as White River Rural Health Center Inc., the nonprofit changed its name in July to better reflect that its primary medical and dental care services are for everyone and not just people living in rural areas, said Dr. Steven Collier, chief executive officer of ARcare.
ARcare now has 24 centers across the state but is concentrated in northeast Arkansas. Its newest center opens in March in Cabot. Another center is scheduled to open in Melbourne later this year.
ARcare centers also provide pharmacy, transportation services and educational programs for the communities. And it partners with area hospitals to provide services, Collier said.
Patients are expected to pay at least $20 a visit, Collier said, but people aren’t turned away if they can’t afford it.
In 2010, ARcare had about 100,000 patient encounters and 40,000 patients, Collier said. He said the goal was to see 100,000 patients with 300,000 encounters.
Revenue hit $20 million for ARcare last year, up 11.7 percent from 2009. In 2008, its revenue was $14.01 million.
About half of ARcare’s revenue comes from patients. ARcare also receives money from state and federal grants and its partnerships, Collier said.
Collier said ARcare had been successful because it provides the services the community wants. ARcare also spends countless hours studying a community before a health center opens.
“We don’t want to open up a clinic and nobody show up,” Collier said.
The biggest challenge ARcare has faced is finding “the qualified people who want to work for us,” Collier said. He said it’s difficult to attract employees ranging from doctors to receptionists, although ARcare currently has about 300 workers.
“But we could do more, if we had more professionals,” Collier said.

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