The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has released $338 million in grants to expand services offered at the nation’s community health centers.
The grants - titled Increased Demand for Services grants - will be distributed to 1,128 federally qualified health centers, which will use the funds over the next two years to create or retain approximately 6,400 jobs.
The grant money was made available by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
“More Americans are losing their health insurance and turning to health centers for care,” said Health Resources and Services Administrator Mary Wakefield. “These grants will aid centers in their efforts to provide care to an increasing number of patients during the economic downturn.”
Grantees submitted plans explaining how the IDS funds would be used. Strategies to expand services may include, but are not limited to, adding new providers, expanding hours of operations or expanding services.
HHS estimates that the funds will provide care to an additional 2.1 million patients over the next two years, including approximately 1 million uninsured people.
Federally-qualified health centers deliver preventive and primary care services to patients regardless of their ability to pay. Charges for services are set according to income. FQHCs served more than 16 million patients in 2007, about 40 percent of whom had no health insurance.
The IDS awards are the second set of health center grants provided through the Recovery Act. On March 2, President Barack Obama announced grants worth $155 million to establish 126 new health centers. Those grants will provide access to health center care for 750,000 people in 39 states and two territories.