An additional 266 health centers nationwide will open using $169 million in Affordable Care Act funds, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell announced Tuesday.
The announcement was made during National Health Center Week, which takes place from August 9 to 15.
The new health centers will be in urban and rural areas in 46 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. They are projected to deliver comprehensive primary healthcare services to over 1.2 million patients.
These awards build on the $101 million awarded to 164 new health center sites in May 2015, bringing the total to 700 sites established with Affordable Care Act funding, according to Health and Human Services.
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"Health centers now provide primary care to one in 14 people living in the United States," said Jim Macrae, acting administrator for the Health Resources Services Administration.
The health center sites started with one clinic in rural Mississippi and another in South Boston. The national program now supports 1,300 community-based and patient-directed health centers at 9,000 sites, serving nearly 23 million people.
"Across the country, health centers have provided a source of high-quality primary care for people in rural and urban communities for 50 years," said Acting Deputy Secretary Mary Wakefield.
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