Posted: 02/21/2009 01:30:56 AM PSTSANTA CRUZ -- Jennifer Hastings didn't become a doctor to close doors. Her goal has always been to care for the down-and-out.
But last month, at a management meeting for the downtown Santa Cruz Planned Parenthood, where she works as medical director, Hastings found herself discussing a proposal to refuse new Medicare patients. They required such frequent appointments and had such complex medical needs -- and the clinic already was stretched so thin.
It was difficult for Hastings and her colleagues to stomach the idea of turning people away, especially elderly and disabled people who couldn't find doctors elsewhere.
"We'll become like the other offices who can't take Medicare," Hastings lamented. "And that breaks my heart, to have a door close."
In the end, the clinic's management team decided not to do it. They thought that caring for those in need was simply too fundamental to their mission.
Still, Hastings' worries reflect the growing pressures on the county's health safety net -- clinics and emergency rooms that care for patients who would otherwise fall through the cracks. Even as the economic downturn is forcing growing numbers of uninsured patients to their waiting rooms, those clinics also see more Medicare patients turning to them for care.
Almost universally, Dr. Hastings' patients adore her. She remembers the sensitive details of their personal lives. She's quick to hug them, or hold them when they cry.
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