A History of Caring for the Community

Founded in 1972 in the basement of the First Baptist Church in Ossining, Open Door was first operated as a free clinic, staffed by nearly 100 local volunteers. Today Open Door is a nationally recognized, federally qualified community health center serving as the health care home to more than 40,000 individuals in Westchester.  Open Door’s facilities are located in designated underserved communities, serving those who are hardest to reach.  Patients make over 170,000 visits annually to its sites in Ossining, Port Chester, Mt. Kisco, Sleepy Hollow and its five school-based health centers in Port Chester.  Accredited by The Joint Comission, Open Door ensures quality through its board-certified and board-eligible physicians, staff and exceptional quality improvement program and a robust electronic medical record platform.

As the health care industry transforms itself, Open Door is at the frontline – delivering quality health care that is high-performing, patient-centered and mindful of cost. This year, Open Door received the highest Level of Recognition as a patient-centered medical home by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), a private, not for-profit organization dedicated to improving health care quality. This is no ordinary distinction. It demonstrates that Open Door is a top quality health care delivery system and among the top 12% of medical providers in the country that qualify for such Recognition.

For many working families the burden of health care costs is too great to bear.  Even for people with insurance, paying for health care is a challenge. As rising costs continue to consume an ever-increasing share of family budgets, families are forced to make difficult sacrifices often placing their health care on the back burner. When the uninsured delay seeking care everyone shares the resulting cost burden of episodic emergency room care. This is why Open Door is such an important safety net in our community. We believe that everyday working people deserve peace of mind knowing that they will always have health care for themselves and their children. By providing fundamental medical, dental and mental health services, we ensure that every member of the family has a medical home, a place they can be guaranteed quality, affordable health care.

Balancing a mission and mandate to provide quality health care to everyone, regardless of their ability to pay, is often a challenge. Open Door’s revenue is a balance of patient service revenue, Federal, State and local grants. While this income covers a substantial portion of the costs, what makes the difference is private philanthropic support.

An investment in Open Door is an investment in a healthy community.