DMC, Vanguard Donate Building To Detroit Clinic

DETROIT (WWJ) - Vanguard Health Systems and the Detroit Medical Center have transferred ownership of the building on Martin Luther King Blvd. to the Detroit Community Health Connection clinic, for free.

DMC CEO Mike Duggan said the clinic is vital in keeping medical costs down.  He added that each month, hundreds of under-insured and uninsured people come to the Detroit clinic.

"Now that DMC's for-profit, they would've had to pay property taxes on it," said Duggan.  "Rather than subject the clinic to the obligation to pay property taxes, Van Guard decided to just donate the building to the health connection and allow them to continue their mission here without that extra expense."

Duggan said their mission in the community is to provide care to the extent that by keeping people healthy and well, patients will not have to return to their hospitals.  As a result their health connection allows them to work together as a partnership.

He said this helps keep people under the good care of a family physician as opposed to a hospital emergency room.