More Recovery Act Dollars Awarded to Buoy Up Community Health Centers

Nearly $600 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act) was awarded to 85 federally qualified community health centers to support major construction and renovation projects and help adopt electronic health record and other health information technology systems.¹ The White House reports that grants of $508.5 million are earmarked for pressing health center facility needs, and as much as $88 million will be made available to improve operational effectiveness and clinical quality in health care centers by providing management, financial, technology, and clinical support services.

The intention of these awards, which will benefit 31 states, Washington, DC, and Puerto Rico, is to create jobs in construction and health care and to help provide preventive and primary care services to an additional half million patients in underserved communities. Both programs will be managed by the Health Resources and Services Administration, which received a total of $2 billion through the Recovery Act to pro-vide health care services to low-income and uninsured persons.

References:

Reference
1. Moore EA. Obama directs $600 million to health centers. cnet news. December 9, 2009. http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10412894-38.html. Accessed December 15, 2009.