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Sterling Area Health Ctr Dental — Alger, MI

Sterling Area Health Ctr Dental is a community health center clinic at 5095 Rifle River Trl, Alger, MI 48610, open 42.5 hours a week. The typical Michigan clinic is open 45 hours a week. It is run by Sterling Area Health Center, which serves 11,049 patients across 6 clinic locations.

Address: 5095 Rifle River Trl, Alger, MI 48610 · Directions
Phone: (989) 873-5152
Website: sterlinghealth.net
Weekly hours: 42.5 (Michigan clinic median: 45)
Operated by: Sterling Area Health Center (federally qualified health center)
Care offered by this health center: primary care, dental care, mental health care, substance use treatment, children’s checkups, women’s health, and telehealth

Fees are on a sliding scale. What you pay at Sterling Area Health Ctr Dental depends on your income and household size, and the clinic bills Medicaid, Medicare and private insurance. Care is not free, and every patient is seen regardless of ability to pay. Among Sterling Area Health Center patients, 9% are uninsured, 34% have Medicaid or CHIP, 7% have Medicare and 50% have private insurance. Call (989) 873-5152 to book and ask about your plan. How sliding-fee pricing works.

Care and screenings at Sterling Area Health Center

Patients came to Sterling Area Health Center for these services in 2025. The numbers cover the whole health center, not only this clinic.

Service	Patients	What it counts
Dental care	3,017	patients had dental exams
Mental health care	3,311	patients treated for depression or anxiety
Substance use treatment	61	patients in treatment
Well-child visits	935	children had checkups
Flu shots	1,035	patients vaccinated
Cervical cancer screening	152	patients tested
Breast cancer screening	380	patients screened
Family planning	130	patients served
Diabetes care	894	patients with diabetes
Blood pressure care	2,113	patients with hypertension
Asthma care	371	patients with asthma

Sterling Area Health Center also provides care by telehealth.

Who Sterling Area Health Center serves

11,049 patients used Sterling Area Health Center in 2025. 29% live at or below the poverty line and 67% are at or below twice the poverty line. 101 patients were experiencing homelessness and 444 were veterans.

Measure	This center	MI median	U.S. median	vs MI
Patients at or below the poverty line	29%	54%	65%	−25 pts
Patients at or below 200% of the poverty line	67%	87%	92%	−20 pts

Measure	This center	MI median	U.S. median	vs MI
Uninsured patients	9%	10%	14%	−1 pts
Medicaid or CHIP patients	34%	45%	42%	−11 pts
Medicare patients	7%	15%	11%	−7 pts
Privately insured patients	50%	25%	24%	+26 pts

Quality of care at Sterling Area Health Center

Sterling Area Health Center is at or above the Michigan median on 2 of 7 preventive-care measures. Higher is better on every line.

Measure	This center	MI median	U.S. median	vs MI
Adults with high blood pressure under control	76%	71%	68%	+5 pts
Women 52–74 screened for breast cancer	54%	57%	54%	−3 pts
Women 24–64 screened for cervical cancer	27%	60%	54%	−33 pts
Adults 46–75 screened for colorectal cancer	40%	49%	44%	−10 pts
Patients 12+ screened for depression	50%	71%	77%	−20 pts
Adults assessed for tobacco use	77%	80%	86%	−4 pts
High-risk adults on statin therapy	81%	79%	79%	+2 pts

Staffing at Sterling Area Health Center

The health center employs 110 full-time-equivalent staff, including 15 physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants and midwives, 15 dental staff and 8 mental health staff. That is 761 patients per clinical provider against the Michigan median of 987 and the U.S. median of 930. Patients made 39,337 visits, about 3.6 per patient.