GiveBetter x Houston

Christ Clinic

Low-income primary care and medication access

Research time: ~2 min on GPT-6.1 Sol
  • Research — reviewed programs, finances and impact evidence.
  • Modeling — estimated costs, QALYs and uncertainty.
  • Source audit — checked claims, assumptions and calculations.

Updated: 2026-10-05

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Summary

What do they do? Christ Clinic provides primary, preventive and specialty care to uninsured and underinsured people in the Katy area. Its Total Care program combines chronic disease care, medication assistance, laboratory services and limited behavioral health treatment. Express Care, employer memberships and the church-linked 2535 initiative provide additional routes to accessible care.

Why we’re interested in this organization:

  • Current eligibility and service descriptions are specific about low-income access.

  • Three original annual returns support a consistent recognized-expense series and verified recipient identity.

  • Medication assistance and multidisciplinary care offer plausible health and household resource mechanisms.

Our main reservations:

  • No current unique completed treatment cohort or causal outcomes were verified.

  • All numerical health and resource response parameters are unsupported local priors.

  • Unrecognized donated clinical resources and marginal funding capacity remain unresolved.

What do you get for your dollar? $1.9M per DALY in Houston. DALY is our one-year comparison unit. QALY-based health gains and income-welfare equivalents retain their original assumptions; they are not measured clinical DALYs. Conditional annual whole-recipient cost divided by a limited modeled local channel; not a verified marginal gift offer or complete portfolio EV.

Additional appropriate care and finite symptom relief in a judged annual patient cohort; visits and medicine retail values are not outcomes.

1. What do they do?

Christ Clinic provides primary, preventive and specialty care to uninsured and underinsured people in the Katy area. Its Total Care program combines chronic disease care, medication assistance, laboratory services and limited behavioral health treatment. Express Care, employer memberships and the church-linked 2535 initiative provide additional routes to accessible care.

2. Monitoring and information sharing

Current primary sources describe services, not unique annual completions or causal improvements. Request unique adults and households, repeated visits, clinical follow-up, medication adherence, alternative care use and recipient-specific net household expenses. Verify membership revenue, current partner capacity and whether new donations expand appropriate care rather than replace public or employer funding.

3. Qualitative assessment

Current eligibility and service descriptions are specific about low-income access. Three original annual returns support a consistent recognized-expense series and verified recipient identity. Medication assistance and multidisciplinary care offer plausible health and household resource mechanisms. No current unique completed treatment cohort or causal outcomes were verified. All numerical health and resource response parameters are unsupported local priors. Unrecognized donated clinical resources and marginal funding capacity remain unresolved. Original FY2024 EIN 90-0789318 and Katy address identify the recipient. Official donation route is checked, not a transaction or restriction. The 2535 initiative is part of this recipient, not a separate benefit added to the cohort.

4. What do you get for your dollar?

The conditional limited-channel reference is $1.9M per DALY, with 0.93 clinical QALYs and -0.039834 signed resource equivalents. $10,000 corresponds to 0.01 combined equivalents under proportional annual accounting, not verified next-gift response. Annual recognized recipient cost is $1,723,027. The 1,000 annual patient opportunities are a judgment; .8 distinct household share and .4 counterfactual annual response yield 320 household proxies, including 64 judged clinical improvers. Utility .03 for .5 years is a weak morbidity hypothesis, not an empirical average or cardiovascular/mortality conversion. Resource success .3 is independent of clinical success. $300 otherwise-paid care avoided is a hypothetical actual payment avoided after alternative-provider substitution, not retail care value; positive overlap .5 and full $50 incremental travel, work disruption or contribution burden give success households $100 net and other households −$50. A single joint household log uses $20,000 annual consumption and one welfare-equivalent adult per household. Gross wages, ordinary survivor earnings and retail medication value are excluded. Positive components alone receive overlap reduction; negative resources and all union harms remain full. ResourceYears is a fraction of one year's gain, not recurrent lifetime savings. Provider/payer costs are separate from participant costs; central external zero is unknown-neutral, not evidence of zero or complete world net benefit. Whole annual recipient cost supports a narrow conditional numerator; complete portfolio and marginal funding EV remain unknown.

Model, assumptions and sensitivity

Whole annual recipient recognized resources; limited clinical/resource numerator; marginal additional cost unknown

Katy delivery is within the Houston MSA; .98 patient share is a judgment, not measured county distribution.

Union=N*unique*b; clinical=union*completion*q*discounted finite years minus full union harms. Financial=.5*people*discounted one-year log(1+joint net gain/baseline), local share once. Headline=10*C/(clinical+financial).

C
1723027 USD annual recognized resources (observed). FY2024 full recognized recipient expense; unrecognized partner resources remain unknown. [services] [finance]
N
1000 annual patient opportunities (judgment). Unsupported 1,000 annual patient opportunity proxy, not a reported unique cohort. [services] [finance]
unique
0.8 households per patient proxy (judgment). Household duplication prior, distinct from additional annual response. [services] [finance]
b
0.4 incremental annual response share (judgment). Counterfactual incremental annual care response, not a next-gift funding haircut. [services] [finance]
completion
0.2 clinical improvement share (judgment). Conditional local prior, not measured or empirically calibrated. [services] [finance]
q
0.03 QALY per person-year (judgment). Conditional local prior, not measured or empirically calibrated. [services] [finance]
T
0.5 finite clinical years (judgment). Conditional local prior, not measured or empirically calibrated. [services] [finance]
g
0.98 Houston MSA share (judgment). Conditional local prior, not measured or empirically calibrated. [services] [finance]
delay
0.25 years (judgment). Conditional local prior, not measured or empirically calibrated. [services] [finance]
discount
0.03 annual discount rate (judgment). Conditional local prior, not measured or empirically calibrated. [services] [finance]
success
0.3 additional resource success share (judgment). Conditional local prior, not measured or empirically calibrated. [services] [finance]
medicalGain
300 USD annual otherwise-paid care avoided (judgment). Conditional local prior, not measured or empirically calibrated. [services] [finance]
workGain
0 USD annual net disposable work resources (unknown). Conditional local prior, not measured or empirically calibrated. [services] [finance]
transferGain
0 USD annual net additional transfers (unknown). Conditional local prior, not measured or empirically calibrated. [services] [finance]
overlap
0.5 independent positive benefit share (judgment). Conditional local prior, not measured or empirically calibrated. [services] [finance]
cost
50 USD one-time incremental household burden (judgment). Conditional local prior, not measured or empirically calibrated. [services] [finance]
baseline
20000 USD annual household consumption (judgment). Conditional local prior, not measured or empirically calibrated. [services] [finance]
harm
0.00 QALY loss per exposed person (unknown). Conditional local prior, not measured or empirically calibrated. [services] [finance]
payerLoss
0 USD loss per resource success (unknown). Conditional local prior, not measured or empirically calibrated. [services] [finance]
payerPeople
100 distinct payer households (judgment). Conditional local prior, not measured or empirically calibrated. [services] [finance]
payerBaseline
50000 USD annual payer household consumption (judgment). Conditional local prior, not measured or empirically calibrated. [services] [finance]
externalCost
0 USD external loss per exposed household (unknown). Conditional local prior, not measured or empirically calibrated. [services] [finance]
resourceYears
1 fraction of one-year gains realized (judgment). Conditional local prior, not measured or empirically calibrated. [services] [finance]

central: Cost: $1.7M; Houston health QALYs: 0.93; all-population health QALYs: 0.95. Income-equivalent healthy years: -0.04. Conditional finite annual channel; full portfolio, current cost and marginal gift unknown.

clinical null: Cost: $1.7M; Houston health QALYs: 0.00; all-population health QALYs: 0.00. Income-equivalent healthy years: -0.04. Conditional finite annual channel; full portfolio, current cost and marginal gift unknown.

financial only: Cost: $1.7M; Houston health QALYs: 0.00; all-population health QALYs: 0.00. Income-equivalent healthy years: -0.04. Conditional finite annual channel; full portfolio, current cost and marginal gift unknown.

current cost unknown: Cost: unknown; Houston health QALYs: 0.93; all-population health QALYs: 0.95. Income-equivalent healthy years: -0.04. Conditional finite annual channel; full portfolio, current cost and marginal gift unknown.

full unknown: Cost: unknown; Houston health QALYs: unknown; all-population health QALYs: unknown. Conditional finite annual channel; full portfolio, current cost and marginal gift unknown.

zero expansion: Cost: $1.7M; Houston health QALYs: 0.00; all-population health QALYs: 0.00. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.00. Conditional finite annual channel; full portfolio, current cost and marginal gift unknown.

true zero: Cost: $1.7M; Houston health QALYs: 0.00; all-population health QALYs: 0.00. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.00. Conditional finite annual channel; full portfolio, current cost and marginal gift unknown.

adverse: Cost: $1.7M; Houston health QALYs: -2.49; all-population health QALYs: -2.54. Income-equivalent healthy years: -1.82. Conditional finite annual channel; full portfolio, current cost and marginal gift unknown.

positive net work: Cost: $1.7M; Houston health QALYs: 0.93; all-population health QALYs: 0.95. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.54. Conditional finite annual channel; full portfolio, current cost and marginal gift unknown.

no resource success: Cost: $1.7M; Houston health QALYs: 0.93; all-population health QALYs: 0.95. Income-equivalent healthy years: -0.39. Conditional finite annual channel; full portfolio, current cost and marginal gift unknown.

no gains: Cost: $1.7M; Houston health QALYs: 0.93; all-population health QALYs: 0.95. Income-equivalent healthy years: -0.39. Conditional finite annual channel; full portfolio, current cost and marginal gift unknown.

negative resource overlap zero: Cost: $1.7M; Houston health QALYs: 0.93; all-population health QALYs: 0.95. Income-equivalent healthy years: -1.10. Conditional finite annual channel; full portfolio, current cost and marginal gift unknown.

negative resource overlap one: Cost: $1.7M; Houston health QALYs: 0.93; all-population health QALYs: 0.95. Income-equivalent healthy years: -1.10. Conditional finite annual channel; full portfolio, current cost and marginal gift unknown.

mixed sign: Cost: $1.7M; Houston health QALYs: 0.93; all-population health QALYs: 0.95. Income-equivalent healthy years: -0.74. Conditional finite annual channel; full portfolio, current cost and marginal gift unknown.

full payer incidence: Cost: $1.7M; Houston health QALYs: 0.93; all-population health QALYs: 0.95. Income-equivalent healthy years: -0.32. Conditional finite annual channel; full portfolio, current cost and marginal gift unknown.

external provider cost: Cost: $1.7M; Houston health QALYs: 0.93; all-population health QALYs: 0.95. Income-equivalent healthy years: -0.35. Conditional finite annual channel; full portfolio, current cost and marginal gift unknown.

annual full response: Cost: $1.7M; Houston health QALYs: 2.33; all-population health QALYs: 2.38. Income-equivalent healthy years: -0.10. Conditional finite annual channel; full portfolio, current cost and marginal gift unknown.

half geography: Cost: $1.7M; Houston health QALYs: 0.48; all-population health QALYs: 0.95. Income-equivalent healthy years: -0.02. Conditional finite annual channel; full portfolio, current cost and marginal gift unknown.

all unique: Cost: $1.7M; Houston health QALYs: 1.17; all-population health QALYs: 1.19. Income-equivalent healthy years: -0.05. Conditional finite annual channel; full portfolio, current cost and marginal gift unknown.

zero resource duration: Cost: $1.7M; Houston health QALYs: 0.93; all-population health QALYs: 0.95. Income-equivalent healthy years: -0.39. Conditional finite annual channel; full portfolio, current cost and marginal gift unknown.

two year health: Cost: $1.7M; Houston health QALYs: 3.68; all-population health QALYs: 3.76. Income-equivalent healthy years: -0.04. Conditional finite annual channel; full portfolio, current cost and marginal gift unknown.

higher full cost: Cost: $20.0M; Houston health QALYs: 0.93; all-population health QALYs: 0.95. Income-equivalent healthy years: -0.04. Conditional finite annual channel; full portfolio, current cost and marginal gift unknown.

weak clinical: Cost: $1.7M; Houston health QALYs: 0.16; all-population health QALYs: 0.16. Income-equivalent healthy years: -0.04. Conditional finite annual channel; full portfolio, current cost and marginal gift unknown.

Counterfactual: Alternative charity clinics, FQHC/public care, insurance eligibility, household payments and employer funding replacement; additional annual care response remains a prior.

Attribution: Annual incremental recipient response is distinct from cohort deduplication and geographic share; no claim of whole annual portfolio or marginal donation causal effect.

Source-grounded cost and service description; numerical clinical and disposable-resource effects are unsupported conditional hypotheses. Complete total EV remains unknown.

Sensitivity

  • clinical null: no finite positive estimate. Conditional finite annual channel; full portfolio, current cost and marginal gift unknown.
  • financial only: no finite positive estimate. Conditional finite annual channel; full portfolio, current cost and marginal gift unknown.
  • current cost unknown: no finite positive estimate. Conditional finite annual channel; full portfolio, current cost and marginal gift unknown.
  • full unknown: no finite positive estimate. Conditional finite annual channel; full portfolio, current cost and marginal gift unknown.
  • zero expansion: no finite positive estimate. Conditional finite annual channel; full portfolio, current cost and marginal gift unknown.
  • true zero: no finite positive estimate. Conditional finite annual channel; full portfolio, current cost and marginal gift unknown.
  • adverse: no finite positive estimate. Conditional finite annual channel; full portfolio, current cost and marginal gift unknown.
  • positive net work: $1.2M per DALY. Conditional finite annual channel; full portfolio, current cost and marginal gift unknown.
  • no resource success: $3.2M per DALY. Conditional finite annual channel; full portfolio, current cost and marginal gift unknown.
  • no gains: $3.2M per DALY. Conditional finite annual channel; full portfolio, current cost and marginal gift unknown.
  • negative resource overlap zero: no finite positive estimate. Conditional finite annual channel; full portfolio, current cost and marginal gift unknown.
  • negative resource overlap one: no finite positive estimate. Conditional finite annual channel; full portfolio, current cost and marginal gift unknown.
  • mixed sign: $9.0M per DALY. Conditional finite annual channel; full portfolio, current cost and marginal gift unknown.
  • full payer incidence: $2.8M per DALY. Conditional finite annual channel; full portfolio, current cost and marginal gift unknown.
  • external provider cost: $3.0M per DALY. Conditional finite annual channel; full portfolio, current cost and marginal gift unknown.
  • annual full response: $771K per DALY. Conditional finite annual channel; full portfolio, current cost and marginal gift unknown.
  • half geography: $3.8M per DALY. Conditional finite annual channel; full portfolio, current cost and marginal gift unknown.
  • all unique: $1.5M per DALY. Conditional finite annual channel; full portfolio, current cost and marginal gift unknown.
  • zero resource duration: $3.2M per DALY. Conditional finite annual channel; full portfolio, current cost and marginal gift unknown.
  • two year health: $473K per DALY. Conditional finite annual channel; full portfolio, current cost and marginal gift unknown.
  • higher full cost: $22.4M per DALY. Conditional finite annual channel; full portfolio, current cost and marginal gift unknown.
  • weak clinical: $14.9M per DALY. Conditional finite annual channel; full portfolio, current cost and marginal gift unknown.

Unresolved inputs

  • Unique completed patient households and dose
  • Clinical response, utility and net household resources versus alternative care
  • Unrecognized partner and volunteer opportunity costs
  • Marginal donor capacity and complete portfolio EV

Health and income breakdown

For the modeled $1.7M: 0.93 health QALYs + -0.04 income-equivalent healthy years in Houston: $1.9M per DALY. Income equivalents are welfare comparisons, not observed QALYs or DALYs.

Method and caveats.

5. Funding and previous grants

Original recognized expenses are FY2024 $1,723,027, FY2023 $2,297,861 and FY2022 $1,912,440. No populated netted event, inventory or rental expense field was recovered in these originals; this is not a claim that unrecognized donated professional resources cost nothing. FY2024 program service revenue $482,099 indicates patient/employer payment mechanisms alongside donations. All recognized expense is retained; additional partner opportunity costs are separately stressed. No arbitrary match is applied to the full denominator or annual numerator.

Annual expenses

Organization-level spending, including programs, administration and fundraising. The research list averages three comparable, consecutive full fiscal years when available.

  • FY 2022: $1.9M; org:christ-clinic, 12-month period, Recognized annual expense plus identified netted expense addbacks. Source
  • FY 2023: $2.3M; org:christ-clinic, 12-month period, Recognized annual expense plus identified netted expense addbacks. Source
  • FY 2024: $1.7M; org:christ-clinic, 12-month period, Recognized annual expense plus identified netted expense addbacks. Source

6. Sources

  1. Current Total Care services and eligibility. Christ Clinic. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-10-05.
  2. Original FY2024 Form 990. IRS. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-10-05.
  3. Original FY2023 Form 990. IRS. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-10-05.
  4. Original FY2022 Form 990. IRS. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-10-05.
  5. Current official donation route. Christ Clinic. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-10-05.
  6. Coefficient Giving income welfare conversion. Coefficient Giving. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-10-05.