History of Horizon Health Care
Forty years ago, groups of concerned citizens from the communities of Howard and Bryant (Miner-Hamlin Health Care Project) and Wessington Springs, Plankinton, and Woonsocket (Tri-County Health Care) formed their respective Federally Qualified Community Health Centers (FQHC) to ensure healthcare would remain in their communities.
Each organization received a grant from the Bureau of Primary Health Care (BPHC) to assist the communities in recruiting healthcare professionals and opening a clinic to provide primary care. After securing a grant that was to end following three years of service, the Howard Clinic began providing service in February, 1978 and the Bryant Clinic opened in March of 1978. The Jerauld County Clinic opened for service in August of 1978 and the Aurora and Whiting Memorial Clinics opened shortly after.
In 1998 the two organizations, East River Health Care (formerly the Miner-Hamlin Health Care Project) and Tri-County Health Care merged and formed Horizon Health Care, Inc. (Horizon) to better serve their patients.
Serving South Dakota with Over 40 Years of Health Care
Today, Horizon serves the healthcare and dental needs of South Dakotans through 110,000 patient visits annually throughout its 32 medical and dental clinics in the communities of Aberdeen, Alcester, Bison, Bryant, De Smet, Eagle Butte, Elk Point, Faith, Fort Thompson, Howard, Huron, Isabel, La Plant, Lake Preston, Martin, McIntosh, Mission, Plankinton, Wessington Springs, White River, Woonsocket, and Yankton. The organization employs over 275 professional staff.
Over the past four decades, the organization has gone through multiple mergers, acquisitions, and New Access Points. Horizon has also expanded our scope of practice to include dental services, telemedicine, behavioral health services, and embraced medical technology to enhance EHR capabilities. Throughout all of these changes, Horizon has remained dedicated to our mission of providing quality, affordable healthcare to those in need.
Horizon is governed by a volunteer community board of directors. The 13 board members are health center patients that represent the communities and populations served. In concordance with FQHC guidelines, the majority (at least 51%) of Horizon’s board members must be patients served by Horizon and must, as a group, represent the individuals who are served by Horizon in terms of demographic factors, such as race, ethnicity, and gender.