Almost 300 school-based health center programs have been awarded a total of $95 million, announced HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Education Secretary Arne Duncan last week. Provided by the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the awards will help the 278 clinics expand and provide more healthcare services at schools nationwide.
The awardees are currently serving approximately 790,000 patients. The awards will enable them to increase their capacity by over 50 percent, allowing them to serve an additional 440,000 patients. School-based health centers provide health screenings, health promotion and disease prevention activities and enable children with acute or chronic illnesses to attend school.
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“These new investments will help school-based health centers establish new sites or upgrade their current facilities to keep our children healthy,” said Sebelius. “These new or improved sites will help ensure effective, efficient and high-quality care.”
“We know that if kids aren’t healthy, then kids can’t learn,” said Duncan. “These grants will make it a lot easier for working moms and dads to help get their children the healthcare they need and deserve.”
The ACA appropriated a total of $200 million for 2010 through 2013 for the School-Based Health Center Capital Program to address capital needs in school-based health centers. The funds announced last week are the first in the series of awards that will be made available to school-based health centers under the ACA. The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) oversees the program.