On Tuesday, May 5, Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell announced that HHS has awarded approximately $101 million in Affordable Care Act funding to 164 new health center sites in 33 states and two U.S. Territories for the delivery of comprehensive primary health care services in communities that need them most.
New York is set to receive $4.28 million of this funding in order to establish new health service delivery access points, expanding capacity for another 50,233 patients. Awardees include:
The Chautauqua Center (Dunkirk) – $702,667
The Community Health Center of Richmond (Staten Island) – $566,667
The Greater Hudson Valley Family Health Center (Cornwall) – $691,667
The Rochester Primary Care Network (Rochester) – $983,333
Union Community Health Center (Bronx) – $704,167
Whitney M. Young, Jr. Health Center (Albany) – $600,000
Several of these awards were successful because of intensive primary care expansion planning work done in New York in the past two years. With support from the New York State Health Foundation, CHCANYS identified high need “primary care deserts” across New York State and New York City through a planning process that culminated in a report is entitled A Plan for Expanding Sustainable Community Health Centers in New York. Based on high priority areas identified in the report, CHCANYS has been able to target intensive technical assistance, data and analytic support to those health center applicants located in high-need, high-sustainability areas across the State, ensuring their ability to demonstrate need and sustainability in a competitive national contest.
“New Yorkers need greater access to high-quality primary care and community health centers are proven to lower health care costs while improving patient outcomes,” said David Sandman, Senior Vice President of the New York State Health Foundation. “This federal funding is the result of careful planning, data, hard work, and local investments. CHCANYS has been an important leader and partner in this process."
“Between 2008 and 2013, New York State’s community health centers, also known as federally qualified health centers (FQHC), have increased access to high quality primary care for nearly 500,000 New Yorkers, an increase of 35%,” said Elizabeth Swain, President & CEO at CHCANYS. “Today nearly 2 million New Yorkers are cared for at FQHCs. With so much attention to coverage expansion, these new service locations address critical shortages in access to primary care, a challenge we continue to address through our work.”
“Public community health centers provide critical primary health care services to some of our most vulnerable populations …” said Senator Charles E. Schumer. “I applaud the Department of Health and Human Services for understanding the importance of quality health care and for approving these critically-needed designations.”
This funding opportunity is historic in its significance as it represents an unprecedented investment by the federal government in FQHCs and has the potential to expand New York State’s primary care system as never before, bringing essential new services to some of the highest-need areas. The awards announced today will infuse critical dollars into New York's health centers and their surrounding communities, enhancing health centers’ ability to serve more patients and creating thousands of jobs across the country.
