2020-2025 STRATEGIC PLAN JANUARY 2020
ABOUT THE CLINIC
The Order of Malta Clinic of Northern California was first envisioned in 2005 by the Bishop of Oakland, Allen Vigneron and the President of the Western Association of the Order of Malta, Richard Madden. Rising from the Order of Malta commitment to practice charity to the sick and the poor, both men saw the opportunity to positively impact the health and well-being of the uninsured and the needy of the Oakland Diocese. Soon several devoted Knights and Dames of the Order under the leadership of the first President of the clinic Bill McInerney, partnered with the Western Association and the Diocese of Oakland to create the now very successful - Order of Malta Clinic of Northern California. While shepherding the construction of the Cathedral of Christ the Light, Bishop Vigneron reserved 1,800 square feet for the establishment of the free medical clinic. Both the new Cathedral and the clinic opened their doors in 2008. The Order of Malta Clinic has operated continuously for more than 11 years, providing more than 35,000 patients visits. Despite the original small footprint, in 2019 the clinic provided more than 4,500 visits to the growing uninsured populations of Northern California communities. The clinic meets all regulatory and legal requirements for medical clinics within the state of California, however, it is distinctive in both its staffing structure and financial model. The staffing structure is unique among medical clinics with a preponderance of the staff being volunteers. These volunteers logged nearly 11,000 hours in 2019. A small group of employed medical professionals, including a medical director, provide stability and structure for a much larger volunteer clinical staff of 65-plus physicians and registered nurses. The part-time administrative team also is dominated by volunteers with only three employed staff. The financial resource model is similarly unique. The clinic is funded entirely through private donations, grants and fund raising events – a truly “free� medical clinic. No patients are billed for services rendered and the clinic seeks no reimbursement from private insurance nor government programs.
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ABOUT THE ORDER OF MALTA
The Sovereign Military Hospitalier Order of Malta is one of the oldest Catholic institutions in Western and Christian civilization. Founded in Jerusalem over 900 years ago, the Order of Malta has a long history of service to the vulnerable and the sick. Dames and Knights in 120 countries volunteer their time and treasure in caring for people in need through medical, social and humanitarian works.
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OUR MISSION Founded in 2008, the Order of Malta Clinic of Northern California is a nonprofit medical clinic located in downtown Oakland, California, on the grounds of the Cathedral of Christ the Light. We provide free, preventative health care services and treatment to uninsured adults throughout the Bay Area. We are dedicated to healing and helping those in need in our modern facilities, within an atmosphere of trust and compassion.
OUR MISSION IS SIMPLE:
“PROVIDE MEDICAL CARE FOR PEOPLE IN NEED.”
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OUR VISION
The vision of the Order of Malta Clinic of Northern California is to provide high-quality health care to more patients in the rapidly growing uninsured populations in Northern California. Despite government mandates requiring all individuals to obtain health insurance, there will remain a vulnerable population that, for a variety of complex reasons, will be unable to obtain health insurance. In order to meet the needs of the growing uninsured population we envision an expansion of our capability. We are keeping true to our mission which includes a volunteer staffing model, private donation/contribution-based financial model and a unique charism of providing service to the vulnerable and the sick; we intend to expand our Oakland footprint, extend our geographical outreach to other Northern California communities and to add more medical specialty services. We foresee partnering with a host of community-minded businesses, large and small healthcare provider organizations and like-minded not-for-profit service organizations to achieve our mission.
OUR VISION IS CLEAR:
“PROVIDE FREE HEALTH CARE TO MORE ADULT PATIENTS IN THE RAPIDLY GROWING UNINSURED POPULATIONS OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA.�
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STRATEGIC INTENT Achieving our mission and realizing our vision requires great commitment, enormous enthusiasm, generous financial support, and a salient and strategic plan. We have six forward-thinking strategies that guide our direction and each strategy is supported by nearterm objectives that focus our energies and resources. Following are the six objectives:
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INCREASE ACCESS FOR UNINSURED INDIVIDUALS
EXPAND CLINICAL SERVICES
MAINTAIN FINANCIAL VIABILITY
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CONTINUOUSLY IMPROVE QUALITY OF CARE
IMPROVE ADMINISTRATIVE OPERATIONS
EXPAND OPPORTUNITIES FOR SPIRITUAL GROWTH AND VOLUNTEERISM
STRATEGIES & OBJECTIVES
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01
STRATEGY ONE
There has been a steady increase in the number of uninsured individuals seeking medical care since the opening of our clinic in 2008. Over the years we have increased our capability to treat a growing demand by building our volunteer workforce (both clinical and administrative), realigning our facility footprint and cultivating a loyal and generous donor base.
INCREASE ACCESS FOR UNINSURED INDIVIDUALS
Explore establishing additional clinics in Northern California. The success of our Oakland-based clinic has sparked the interest of other religious communities and Order of Malta locations. They, too, are passionate about caring for the sick and the uninsured. We intend
OBJECTIVE 1.1
to explore those opportunities.
Advance telemedicine capabilities. Healthcare technology advances and government regulations have made telemedicine solutions advantageous and cost effective. We intend to leverage our strategic partnership with Kareo Go Practice to fully deploy the electronic medical records system, including telemedicine. We will extend our clinical services to the uninsured beyond our existing facility footprint so that physical location will no longer be a barrier to access for patients or recruiting volunteer clinicians.
OBJECTIVE 1.4
OBJECTIVE 1.2 Increase our existing facility footprint. We continue to work with the Diocese of Oakland to increase the square footage of our clinical and administrative space. Our current three exam rooms are at capacity and are insufficient to meet our patient demands for treatment. Our small administrative area scarcely provides space for reception, scheduling and record keeping, causing workflow inefficiencies.
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OBJECTIVE 1.3
Develop a plan for our Mobile Clinic. In 2018 we purchased a mobile clinic with the intent to take our services to the uninsured population outside of our current clinic footprint and catchment area. We believe that we can provide additional access for the uninsured by leveraging our mobile clinic asset.
OBJECTIVE 1.5 Assist patients with transportation challenges. Often the uninsured lack reliable transportation to reach the clinic. We intend to allocate resources and establish procedures to assist with transportation needs.
The majority of our clinical services are primary care, however, our patients often need specialty care. We are fortunate to have 13 volunteer specialists on staff. We intend to add additional services over the next year. Our staff has identified Psychiatry, Endocrinology and Women’s Health as among the services that would make a positive impact in caring for the needs of our uninsured patients.
OBJECTIVE 2.1 Develop social worker service program. Social work services have been identified as the most critical need for the clinic. Recently, we added a volunteer social worker to augment the special needs of our patients.
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STRATEGY TWO ADD ADDITIONAL CLINICAL SERVICES
We intend to develop a social work service program.
OBJECTIVE 2.2 Complete a needs assessment and resource review for additional specialties. As the patient population increases the specialty needs of our patient base increases as well. Adding specialty services requires trained physicians and often times specialized equipment and tools. An orderly process for resources commitment will be required.
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STRATEGY THREE
Unlike most not-for-profit health care organizations, we do not seek insurance payments, government reimbursements, nor do we bill our patients for services – we are truly a “free” clinic. Our revenue is generated by generous donors and our operating expenses are extremely low due to our predominantly volunteer workforce. Critical to accomplishing our mission is a strategic focus on fiscal integrity and stewardship of funds.
MAINTAIN FINANCIAL SUSTAINABILITY
OBJECTIVE 3.1 Expand our development staff resources. We have concentrated our energies around a singular annual fundraising event - “The Gala.” We believe an investment in an additional development staff person will enhance our ability to raise funds through year-round activities and events.
OBJECTIVE 3.2 Assess and replenish our financial reserves. The clinic was originally funded through the generosity of a limited number of seed donors. An increased patient load has decreased the reserve over the years. We intend to assess our future needs and appropriately replenish our reserves.
OBJECTIVE 3.3 Cultivate increased support from community partners. We plan to enhance our community partners to support our financial needs. Just as we are passionate about aiding the uninsured we seek like-minded partners who will provide financial support through donations and in particular multi-year grants.
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We have been blessed with amazingly competent physicians, retired and active, who have broad experience in their profession. Our Medical Director rates as among the strongest in her field according to her peers in medicine. We will create systems and processes to assure our patients continue to receive the best care possible.
OBJECTIVE 4.1 Enhance our peer review process. Develop a comprehensive and standardized peer review process through expanded chart review and greater physician involvement.
OBJECTIVE 4.2
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STRATEGY FOUR CONTINUOUSLY ASSESS AND IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF CARE DELIVERED
Explore accreditation. Begin the exploration into achieving accreditation by the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC) or similar accrediting body. The process can be quite rigorous, time consuming and expensive, but also provides a comfort by assuring quality in our clinic.
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STRATEGY FIVE IMPROVE OUR ADMINISTRATIVE OPERATIONS
The successful administration of our clinic can be directly attributed to our talented and caring management team. Its mostly volunteer efforts have produced processes and procedures that positively contribute to patient care.
OBJECTIVE 5.1 Automate our patient access systems. We have been fortunate to receive, at no cost, an Electronic Medical Record (EMR) system from a generous donor. We now need to allocate the resources to employ the system and train our staff in its optimal use, beginning with patient access functions.
OBJECTIVE 5.2 Develop a human resources management plan. We have been fortunate to attract a highly skilled, very reliable and mostly volunteer clinical and administrative workforce. A human resources management plan will aid our management in recruiting, training and coordinating our expanded workforce.
OBJECTIVE 5.3 Develop succession planning for key positions. We intend to determine which positions in our clinic are critical to operations and create a succession plan for the leaders in those positions. These positions include board leaders, clinical staff and administrative leaders.
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An essential component of our success has been the committed volunteer workforce we have drawn to the clinic and the ever-present spirituality of the Order of Malta members. These two essential components, volunteerism and spirituality, are critical aspects of our culture and our ongoing success.
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STRATEGY SIX
OBJECTIVE 6.1 Promote to medical professionals the altruistic value of serving the uninsured. To many medical providers the art and practice of medicine has become usurped by corporate business practice, dominated by large corporate provider organizations and insurance companies. We believe that our model of providing care, without seeking financial remuneration, will draw additional medical professionals to our volunteer medical staff.
EXPAND THE OPPORTUNITIES FOR VOLUNTEERISM AND SPIRITUAL GROWTH
OBJECTIVE 6.2 Recruit additional non-clinical volunteers from both the Order of Malta Western Association and Northern California communities. Expansion of our service to the uninsured, the sick and the poor, will require an expanded volunteer work force to assist with hospitality, administrative services and social guidance. These are recognized and valued charisms of the Order of Malta.
OBJECTIVE 6.2 Keep omnipresent the spirituality of the Order of Malta in all medical and administrative activities. Evoking the prayer of the Order of Malta “be it mine to practice charity towards my neighbors, especially the poor and the sick,� we intend to memorialize the spiritual aspects of this endeavor.
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SUMMARY
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The Order of Malta Knights, Dames and volunteers have created a remarkably successful free medical clinic in Oakland, California. The Chairman of the Board appropriately refers to the clinic as our “Miracle on 21st Street.� Serving the underserved has been the focus of The Order of Malta Clinic of Northern California since its inception in 2008. The clinic founders, from those early years, and now hundreds of caring and very passionate Malta and non-Malta persons, generously donate their time, talent and treasure to sustain the important mission of the clinic. The Board of Directors of the clinic has recognized that the continued success of the clinic will be greatly aided by a longer range strategic plan. This plan succinctly
articulates our mission, communicates a vision for the future, and specifies forwardthinking strategies that will chart our course for the next three-to-five years. Shorter term and more specific are the strategic objectives which will require resource commitment and organizational focus over the next two years. The members of the Order of Malta and specifically the Board of Directors of the Order of Malta Clinic of Northern California, have humbly and energetically accepted the 900-year-old mission of serving the vulnerable, the sick and the uninsured of Northern California.
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2121 HARRISON STREET #120 OAKLAND, CA 94612 (510) 587-3000 orderofmaltaclinic.com