About Us

Open Door Health Services is a nonprofit, Federally Qualified Health Center. We provide comprehensive primary, urgent, and preventive healthcare services, as well as select specialty services and social support programs. Our physicians, nurse practitioners, behavioral health providers, and staff offer friendly, expert care for individuals and families throughout East Central Indiana--with or without insurance. Ability to pay is not a barrier to care. Services are offered at multiple locations in Muncie. 

Open Door is recognized by the National Committee of Quality Assurance (NCQA) as a Patient-Centered Medical Home.

NCQA-recognized organizations demonstrate a commitment to continuous quality improvement and a patient-centered approach to care. Patients can be confident that Open Door has been vetted based on industry-leading best practices.

Open Door is a U.S. Health Resources & Services Administration’s Health Center Quality Leader.

HRSA’s Quality Leaders have the best overall performance among health centers, based on clinical quality measures.

Our History

In 1972, two Muncie couples decided to do something about the lack of ambulance service in Delaware County. With $35 in donations and a small rented house with no water or heat as an office, they formed the Delaware Anti-Poverty Corporation. As they developed their business plan and started to pursue funding for ambulance service, they sought neighborhood input by knocking on more than a thousand doors and conducting surveys. The findings changed their plans: primary healthcare was a greater need. Nearly 40% of those surveyed did not have a family doctor and used the ER for healthcare. They wanted a health clinic they could afford.

The Corporation shifted focus to bringing healthcare to South Muncie.

Open Door Health Clinic opened in April of 1974, seeing ten patients on its first day. Located in a rented house on South Gharkey, the clinic employed one nurse and a rotation of medical residents and interns. Providers were paid $10/hour, and the clinic was open one night a week. As founding CEO Linda Shepherd describes, “word spread like wildfire.” Soon they had more patients than space, and moved into a larger location at 8th and Hoyt.

In 1976, the State of Indiana approached Open Door to host a “Homemaker and Handyman” program. Funding for that program allowed Open Door to spread their administrative costs, free up money for the health clinic, and add community services to their offerings. Open Door also stepped forward in 1978 to start the Women, Infant, and Children’s (WIC) program in Delaware County, further expanding services.

Over the next several years, a growing patient base required additional site moves and new services. This would include the addition of maternal and child health, dental, family planning, and behavioral health, among others.

Through the hard work and commitment of Open Door’s founders, staff, and board members, Muncie and Delaware County were recognized as medically-underserved communities, which opened new avenues of significant funding. In 2000, Open Door became a Federally Qualified Health Center and saw a near-immediate 400 percent increase in patients. Open Door continued its focus on connecting under-resourced residents with high-quality healthcare, offering sliding fee scales, and ensuring insurance status or ability to pay are not barriers to care.

Today, Open Door Health Services provides comprehensive healthcare —including primary care for all ages, behavioral health, dental, urgent care, prenatal care, chiropractic, pain management, and Title X family planning services—across multiple locations in Delaware County. More than 23,000 patients trust their care to Open Door each year, with thousands more accessing support services such as WIC and health coverage enrollment assistance. With the support of patients, employees, and our communities, Open Door’s mission to improve quality of life thrives.