Increasing Access to Health Care
in the Nation's Most Needy Communities
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Launched in 2002, the President's
Health Center Initiative aimed to
significantly increase access to primary
health care services.
In just five years, the Initiative's goal has been achieved: new or expanded Health
Center sites in 1,200 communities.
Through this Initiative, investments
in the Health Center Program have
nearly doubled growing from
a little more than $1 billion in FY2000
to the nearly $2 billion it is today
and Health Centers have experienced
an unprecedented period of sustained
expansion and quality improvement.
Data from 2007 point to how
successful this effort has been in
increasing the numbers of people served
and expanding services across the
board.
- Health Centers cared for
more than 16 million patients
in 2007, an increase of more than
5.8 million over 2001.
- A total of 2.8 million patients
received dental services
in 2007, more than twice as many as in
2001.
- A total of 617,000 patients
received mental health care
in 2007, more than three times as many as in 2001.
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High Poverty Counties
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The President's Health
Center Initiative also sparked the High
Poverty County Presidential Initiative,
which is extending the benefits of health
center care to the hardest-to-penetrate,
poorest areas of the country. The first
grants under this new initiative were
announced in August 2007. Some are grants
to existing grantees to expand satellites
into neighboring poor counties and others
are to entirely new grantees.
- 80 High Poverty Grants plus 25
Planning Grants will establish new
access points in low-income counties.
- Health center sites will exist
in more low-income counties than
ever before.
- Some 300,000 people in some of
the poorest communities in the country
will gain access to primary health
care, many for the first time.
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HHS Marks Expansion of 1200th Health Center, Meeting Key Bush Goal (press release, December 5, 2007)
Meeting the Health Care Needs of Uninsured and Underserved Americans (White House Fact Sheet, December 5, 2007)
Health Care Center for the Homeless,
Inc. is the only health care provider
for people who are chronically homeless
in the streets and woods of Florida's
Orange, Osceola, and Seminole counties.
Martha, a patient who had been homeless
for many years, had trouble finding
a job because she was missing several
front teeth.
Our recent expansion of oral health
services allowed us to treat more
patients and offer more restorative
treatments than ever before.We have
been able to bring a smile back
to Martha's face. With her new confidence,
she has been able to get a job at
a local thrift store. |
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