HHS Awards over $260 Million to Health Centers Nationwide

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Recently, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary, Sylvia M. Burwell, announced over $260 million in funding awarded to 290 health centers in 45 states across the country. The funds will be used for renovation, construction, or expansion.

“Health centers are cornerstones of the communities they serve,” said Secretary Burwell.  “[These] awards will empower health centers to build more capacity and provide needed health care to hundreds of thousands of additional individuals and their families.”

The goal is for health centers to utilize these funds to increase their patient capacity and provide additional comprehensive primary and preventive health services “to medically underserved populations.”

The new and/or renovated centers are expected to provide care for over 800,000 new patients across the country. The new funding builds upon the $150 million awarded to 160 centers in September 2015. This funding comes from the Affordable Care Act’s Community Health Center (CHC) Fund.

“Providing funding to help health centers renovate their facilities will allow them to provide care to more patients,” said Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Acting Associate Administrator Jim Macrae. “Perhaps more importantly though, health centers will now be able to provide more health services in one location, better meeting the needs of their communities.”

Since 2009, health centers have added 6 million patients and now serve nearly 23 million people annually. Nearly 1,400 health centers operate about 9,000 service delivery sites in every U.S. state, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and the Pacific Basin.

To find a health center in your area, visit HRSA’s site.

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