JPS defends closure of Fort Worth area school clinics, touts partnership with Cook Children’s

Officials with the JPS Health Network defended the closure of 15 school-based health centers last year, saying it allowed for expanded access to medical services because of a new partnership with Cook Children’s health care system.

They spoke to Tarrant County commissioners about the closures for the first time on Tuesday. Some commissioners said they first learned of the closures after reading an article published in the Star-Telegram Aug. 5.

“I only wish we could have come to you before the recent article hit the papers,” said Dr. Karen Duncan, the hospital’s CEO and president. “Because the true headline is creating health equity through strong community partnerships.”

To care for children, JPS has directed families to its neighborhood clinics and partnered with Cook Children’s, which operates neighborhood clinics and urgent care clinics throughout the county. Cook Children’s is the primary health care provider for children in Tarrant County, although it operates as a nonprofit and is not a public entity in the same way as JPS.

Joy Parker, a vice president with JPS, said by directing county children to clinics in the community operated by JPS or Cook Children’s, the partnership could actually provide better care for children.

The school-based clinics were typically staffed by one nurse practitioner and only open during school hours, she said. The community clinics, known as medical homes, have a larger staff and a wider array of services, like dental care and mental health care. And, she said, because these medical homes also have social workers on staff, these locations are better able to help families who might be struggling to find housing, adequate food, or other essential needs.

Parker and Duncan also said that some campuses are now equipped with telehealth services for children’s behavioral health needs through a statewide network called the Texas Child Health Access Through Telemedicine. The program is not available on all campuses or in all districts. In the Fort Worth school district, the program is available on 13 of about 140 campuses.

Hospital leaders first began discussing the clinics in 2017, Duncan said in an interview Tuesday.

Commissioners said they would have wanted to be notified of the change earlier.

“It took four years for somebody to bring it to our attention,” Commissioner Gary Fickes said. “I just wish somebody had come to us and said, Hey, here’s what we’re doing and we’re working on this and we’ve been working on it since 2018.”

“We hear you,” Duncan said. “We take your suggestions to heart.”

Under the school-based health center model, JPS would enter into a partnership with a school district. The school district would typically provide the physical space for the clinic, and JPS would provide the staff and medical care for the children, according to copies of the agreements reviewed by the Star-Telegram.

The clinics offered a range of preventive health services, including routine vaccinations, sports physicals, and treatment for minor injuries and illnesses as well as chronic conditions like diabetes and asthma. The model was designed to serve children who might otherwise go without medical care, particularly children without health insurance or who are underinsured.

JPS first approached officials with Fort Worth’s district, where they operated five clinics, in 2018 to tell them they ultimately planned to phase out the program, said Michael Steinert, the district’s assistant superintendent for student support services.

“We definitely don’t feel like the rug was pulled out from under us,” Steinert said. “We understand that the needs change, the models change, the sustainability of it changed.”

But the Eagle Mountain-Saginaw district said they weren’t notified of the decision until 2020.

“When COVID shutdowns occurred in spring 2020, JPS made the determination to close the school-based clinic without consulting the district,” said spokesperson Megan Overman. “We requested they leave the clinic open to serve our local families, especially in a global pandemic, but that did not occur.”

Duncan said Tuesday that the disruption caused by the pandemic, which forced schools and some non-emergency medical providers to close for several months, helped affirm the decision to close the school-based clinics.

“As the children were asked to go home and schools closed down, and we no longer were close to where the children were living, it allowed us the opportunity to really move forward with plans that we were already working through with Cook’s,” she said.

There are two school-based health centers still open. One is near multiple campuses in the H-E-B school district, and the other is in Mansfield’s school district.

Duncan said there were no plans to close either of those clinics, as both were determined to be in a health care desert.

Staff writer Abby Church contributed to this report.