A.C.T. IN THE NEWS
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
A 2% investment can pay major dividends
By JOSE AGUILAR, PATRICIA GAFFNEY and JOHNNY LEWIS
Special to the Star-Telegram
Call it the 2 percent solution. We believe that the Tarrant County Hospital District has a unique opportunity to expand the concepts of "public" and "health" in our public healthcare system.
Who are we? We are leaders from the Allied Communities of Tarrant (ACT). We are dozens of clergy, hundreds of lay leaders and almost 50,000 local families from many faiths, ethnicities and walks of life. Together, we build community leadership and work to improve the quality of life for all Tarrant County residents. We call our proposal the Healthy Tarrant County Initiative. 
We urge the JPS board to set aside $10 million -- 2 percent of the JPS Network's $500 million budget -- to target grassroots health education and early intervention. This can be done with no new taxes, given that the JPS System has generated significant surpluses during the past five years.
Here's how our Healthy Tarrant County Initiative would work:
The community clinics and the JPS Connection program for low-income residents must be open to all Tarrant County families who pay hospital district property taxes, either directly as homeowners or indirectly as renters. All residents will be screened solely on county residency and family income.
Broader coverage will lessen the risks of untreated contagious disease in any sector of the county. This is an important consideration as we send our children to school, or as we go to work, eat out or shop at the mall.
Encouraging eligible families to use JPS clinics can save money; personnel can screen for diseases, educate residents on healthful practices and treat minor ailments before they become emergencies. Harris County (Houston) recently completed a study showing that using community clinics rather than the emergency room whenever possible saves between $23.6 million and $35.6 million annually.
Current JPS policy diverts non-emergency care for some county residents away from the clinics and into more expensive tax-funded emergency room treatments. This wastes tax dollars and would be greatly curtailed by ACT's 2 percent solution.
A joint JPS/community task force will conduct listening sessions in the community. We believe that careful listening will lead to improved services and spark discussions on how to serve uninsured families. These are hard-working families of every race, from all parts of our community, trying to live the American Dream. Their only crime is working without affordable health benefits yet earning too little to pay private premiums.
As leaders of ACT, we will do our part by organizing "Healthy-Care Expos" in neighborhoods and congregations countywide. At these events, we will work with health professionals to provide health screenings, teach illness prevention education and answer questions on how to navigate the local health system. Just as important is that we will discuss with residents when to use clinics vs. emergency rooms. Participants who choose wisely will stretch scarce healthcare dollars, allowing more of their neighbors to be treated.
ACT's Healthy Tarrant County Initiative will face two potential hurdles, but we think each can be overcome. 
First, opening eligibility to the JPS Connection to all payers of property taxes will bring in some residents who are undocumented immigrants. In the long run, their status will be decided by Congress. Ultimately, their treatment may be provided by private, federally qualified clinics. In the meantime, we believe that JPS should round up communicable diseases, while the federal government decides policies for the residents who may have them.
The second area of possible contention involves the scope and timing of expanding clinical services. The JPS board voted to conduct a study on our Healthy Tarrant County Initiative to determine the number of patients anticipated, the costs of treatment and the potential savings from using preventive and early-intervention treatments. Similar studies by Texas counties have cost more than $100,000 in tax dollars and have taken almost a year. That's a long time and a lot of money.
Because so much research already exists, ACT is pulling together nationally recognized academic studies and cost figures from Texas' metropolitan counties. We hope to answer the questions raised by the JPS Health Network by mid- to late October.
If ACT's analysis withstands community scrutiny, JPS can decide sooner rather than later whether to expand clinical care.
If the total cost of our Healthy Tarrant County Initiative is less than $10 million, we will urge the JPS board to use the remaining funds for a pilot program assisting uninsured working families. Combined with improved clinic access and care, the 2 percent solution will fight disease and promote health with no increase in taxes.
