HHS To Disburse $300M to Community Health Centers Under ACA
On Tuesday, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced the availability of $300 million in grants to help community health centers nationwide expand their services, staff members and service hours, The Hill reports (Al-Faruque, The Hill, 6/3).
The grants will be disbursed through HHS' Health Resources and Services Administration under the Affordable Care Act (Teske, Bloomberg BNA, 6/3). According to HHS, there are about 1,300 community centers that operate more than 9,000 facilities and offer care to more than 21 million patients in the U.S. and its territories.
Health centers seeking one of the grants, which will start at $178,000, must submit detailed plans for extending primary care treatment and services (The Hill, 6/3). Applications for the grants are due by July 1, and the funds are expected to be distributed in September (Bloomberg BNA, 6/3).
Overall, the ACA is providing $11 billion over five years to bolster and expand community health care centers, according to AL.com's "Data Mine" (Oliver, "Data Mine," AL.com, 6/3).
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