(HOWARD, SD) – Horizon Health Care, Inc. (Horizon) and allPOINTS Health Services (allPOINTS) are on track to merge their organizations on June 1, 2017; a date previously announced in January 2017. The respective community health centers will form a network of 31 medical, dental, and school-based clinics throughout the entire state of South Dakota that will operate as Horizon clinics.
The clinics will not be closed during the merger transition, but there are a few changes that can be expected at the time of the transition. The allPOINTS clinics will be changing names to: Alcester Community Health Center, Alcester Dental Clinic, Elk Point Community Health Center, and Yankton Community Health Center and Dental Services, to be consistent with the names of other Horizon clinics. However, the phone numbers and addresses for each of the facilities will remain the same.
Patients can expect to be greeted by their same primary care provider and support staff that they are accustomed to through the transition, but there will be some new faces added to the clinics. Dr. Nelson Batoon and Anna Waldner, CNP, both current Horizon providers, will be transferring to the Elk Point, Alcester, and Yankton clinics and will begin seeing patients on Monday, June 5th. Dr. Batoon will see patients at all three locations and Anna Waldner will be available in Alcester. A former familiar face with allPOINTS, Kristin Morrow, CNP, will be returning to the organization at the time of the merger and will be located in Elk Point. She previously served patients in Alcester while she was with allPOINTS. Other current allPOINTS providers, Traci Holmquist, CNP, Holly Haberman, CNP, Dr. Paul Cortez, and Jack Creelman, Hygienist will all continue to see patients in their respective locations.
Horizon has also hired a new Regional Office Manager, Janet Fulk, to oversee the Southeastern medical and dental clinics currently operated as allPOINTS. Janet had been overseeing the Physician Assistant’s program at USD since 2004, prior to joining Horizon. She has already started training with the organization and will begin managing the facilities at the time of the merger.
For 39 years, Horizon Health Care, Inc. has been providing personalized, affordable, high-quality medical, dental and mental health care through a rural, community-based network in South Dakota. Horizon is a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) that serves the medical, dental and mental health care needs of South Dakotans in rural, medically underserved areas through 97,000 patient visits annually in 26 community health centers in: Aberdeen, Bison, Bryant, De Smet, Eagle Butte, Faith, Fort Thompson, Howard, Huron, Isabel, La Plant, Lake Preston, Martin, McIntosh, Mission, Plankinton, Wessington Springs, White River and Woonsocket. For more information please visit www.horizonhealthcare.org.