Horizon Health Care, Inc. (Horizon) and Prairie Community Health, Inc. (Prairie) board members and leadership are pleased to announce the intended merger of their respective community health centers to form a network of 24 medical and dentals clinics throughout the entire state of South Dakota.
“After months of planning and execution, we are thrilled with this opportunity to join forces with Prairie Community Health and add five well-established clinics to our network,” said John Mengenhausen, CEO of Horizon Health Care, Inc. “Both organizations have a rich history in striving to improve the quality of life for those we serve through delivery of affordable health care in many of our state’s most rural areas. Horizon will continue to provide Prairie Community Health patients with access to the same quality health care they currently receive.”
Prairie Community Health is a Community Health Center with five clinic locations in the communities of Bison, Eagle Butte, Faith, Isabel, and McIntosh, plus a school-based clinic in LaPlant, SD. Horizon and Prairie have been fortunate to have a long-standing relationship throughout the years, especially over the past fifteen years. Since 2003, Horizon has provided direct support to Prairie in the area of information technology, and most recently, the organizations have shared a partnership in the Prairie Health IT Network that provides shared IT staffing and health information technology training to staff.
Once the merger is complete, the Prairie Community Health clinics will operate as a part of Horizon Health Care, Inc. The current Prairie Community Health employees and providers will continue to serve patients at each clinic site. Prairie Board Chair, Fred Hulm, has served on the board for twenty-five years and believes the merger will strengthen the services current patients are accustomed to, “As the only source of primary health care in many of our locations, we serve nearly 4,000 patients each year. As a board, we would like to express our sincere appreciation to our patients and staff for their support over the past 35 years. We have had great success in recent partnerships with Horizon and I feel confident that they will continue to strive for excellence.”
As the organizations work to integrate their locations and services, Mengenhausen and Dave Schmidt, Horizon Board Chair, would like to see the merger completed by the end of 2015. “Throughout this upcoming integration period, Horizon is dedicated to merging the two organizations with minimal disruptions to patient care. As a board, we strongly believe that leveraging the strengths in both organizations will allow Horizon to improve and align processes in the delivery of quality patient care. We have a very exciting road ahead of us,” said Schmidt.
For over 35 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 78,000 patient visits annually in 18 community health centers in: Aberdeen, Bryant, DeSmet, Howard, Huron, Fort Thompson, Lake Preston, Martin, Mission, Plankinton, Wessington Springs, White River and Woonsocket. For more information please visit www.horizonhealthcare.org.