Temple University Health System is placing six Temple Physicians, Inc. (TPI) practices in to a freestanding physician practice named Fair Hill Community Physicians. This change of ownership will begin the process for Fair Hill to become a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) look-alike. This process will begin on January 1, 2024 and will include a compliance period before making application for FQHC look-alike designation. The select offices will transition to Fair Hill Community Physicians. Once certified, the FQHC look-alike will allow for a greater reach into the community and for expanded services to be offered to the most vulnerable and underserved patient populations. David DeMilio, DrBA, MBA, has been named Chief Executive Officer of Fair Hill Community Physicians.
Fair Hill Community Physicians is an independent nonprofit organization (a legally separate entity that is not a subsidiary of Temple University Health System) with a separate CEO, leadership team and board of directors. Fair Hill CEO David DeMilio was previously Chief Financial Officer of Spectrum Health Services, a large nonprofit Federally Qualified Health Center in Philadelphia. He has spent more than a decade working in various financial and strategic planning and analysis roles for large privately held companies, state government and nonprofit corporations. He earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration from Temple University, a Master of Business Administration Degree from La Salle University and a Doctorate of Business Administration degree from Temple University
There will be strong alignment between the leadership of Fair Hill Community Physicians and Temple University Health System and their missions and goals, including formalized relationships through management services agreements (MSA) and contracts. Current providers and staff at the clinics will continue their employment under TPI and their services will be formalized with the clinics through contractual agreements.
“The purpose of this change is to better serve patients who rely on these offices for their care,” said Steven R. Carson, MHA, BSN, RN, Senior Vice President of Population Health for Temple Health and CEO, Temple Center for Population Health, LLC. “By transitioning these offices to Fair Hill Community Physicians, they will be able to expand the types of services that they can provide into the community.”
The six qualifying practices were identified as those offering high-quality primary care services to an underserved population.
“These practices will provide comprehensive primary care, expand patient access and offer more enabling services like social work, interpretation, care management and transportation to better support the needs of patients,” said DeMilio.
Providers will not change for patients who used the offices prior to the transition and those patients can continue to enjoy the same relationship with other clinical and office staff. Services are also not changing as a result of the transition and, in the future, Fair Hill Community Physicians will have stronger opportunities to expand the services offered and increase the types of health care programs offered.
Fair Hill Community Physicians works closely with Temple Health and the services they provide, which will ensure that patients can maintain the same specialty care physicians at Temple Health. Should patients need additional specialty care, Fair Hill Community Physicians can easily refer patients to new providers, including at Temple Health.
Fair Hill Community Physicians has partnered with all major insurance programs and will work to have a seamless transition in terms of insurance coverage. Fair Hill Community Physicians will also offer a sliding fee discount program for uninsured patients to use to ensure that no patient is refused care based on their ability to pay
The six TPI clinics transitioning to Fair Hill Community Physicians are:
• Temple Physicians at Liberty Square (Adult Medicine)
• Temple Physicians at Hunting Park (Adult Medicine)
• Temple Physicians at Hunting Park (Pediatrics)
• Temple Physicians at Nicetown (Family Medicine)
• Temple Comprehensive Health Center (Internal Medicine)
• Temple Comprehensive Health Center (Pediatrics)