HHS Awards $125 Million to Expand Health Center Services and Strengthen America's Health Care Safety Net

HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt today announced grants worth almost $125 million to help health centers increase access to health care for low-income and uninsured Americans.

Grants totaling $45 million will be used to establish 86 new health center sites in 33 states and the District of Columbia . These New Access Point grants will help an estimated 418,000 Americans, including many without health insurance, gain access to the comprehensive quality primary health care services that health centers provide.

Additional grants worth $55 million will expand medical capacity at 132 existing health centers, helping an additional 450,000 individuals receive primary health care services in 42 states and Puerto Rico. The remaining $25 million will supplement health centers' base grant awards to offset rising costs associated with maintaining current service levels.

“The funds we're announcing today will help almost 900,000 more low-income and uninsured patients access the key preventive and primary health care services that health centers offer,” Secretary Leavitt said. “The grants also bring us very close to completing President Bush's multi-year initiative to provide health care to millions more Americans by expanding the health center system.”

Launched in 2002, the President's health center initiative aimed to significantly increase access to primary health care services in 1,200 communities by supporting new or expanded health center sites. With today's grants, HHS will have funded more than 1,100 new or expanded health center sites and increased the number of patients served to an estimated 14.8 million individuals in 2006, up from 10.3 million in 2001.

By delivering primary and preventive care to patients regardless of their ability to pay, health centers are a major component of America 's health care safety net. In a typical year, about 40 percent of health center patients have no insurance coverage.

The list of grant recipients follows:

Health Center Program
New Access Point FY 2007
(Effective July 1, 2007)

Health Center Program
Expanded Medical Capacity FY 2007
(Effective June 1, 2007)

As stated in the release, an additional $25 million will be distributed among all current health center grantees in all 50 States, the District of Columbia , the Pacific Basin , and Puerto Rico as part of an adjustment to the base grants they receive from HHS/ HRSA.

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HHS' Health Resources and Services Administration manages the national health center network, which is comprised of about 1,000 grantees that operate community health centers, migrant health centers, health care for the homeless centers and public housing primary care centers. The grantees provide community-based care at more than 3,800 sites nationwide.

* Editors Note: The five new access point grant awards denoted with an * will place health center sites in counties identified in the President's High Poverty County Initiative. The health center sites are placed in Blount County, Alabama; Bibb County, Georgia; Elkhart County, Indiana; Hickman County, Tennessee; and Gregg County, Texas.

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