HHS awards nearly $90 million to community health centers to advance health equity through better data

Funding from President Biden’s US bailout will help improve care for the more than 30 million people served by community health centers.

Today during National Health Centers Week, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), awarded nearly $90 million dollars in U.S. bailout funding to nearly 1,400 community health centers across the country to advance health equity through better data collection and reporting. On Friday, August 5, President Biden issued a National Health Centers Week proclamation to recognize the vital role that health centers play in safeguarding the well-being of Americans and to honor the heroic staff who keep health centers running. these facilities.

The Biden-Harris administration is committed to ensuring an equitable response and recovery from the pandemic, and these awards will help strengthen efforts to eliminate inequities in COVID-19 care and outcomes within communities across the country. color and other underserved populations. The nearly $90 million in funding announced today also builds on the $7.6 billion invested by President Biden’s U.S. bailout to bolster health center staffing, renovate facilities and equip them essential medical supplies against COVID-19 over the past year.

“We have prioritized promoting equity in our response to COVID-19 and in all of our work,” HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said. “Community health centers have played a central role in the country’s response to COVID-19 and now serve more than 30 million people across the country. Today’s investments will help ensure that all patients have equitable access to the high-quality health care they deserve. “

The funding supports a data modernization effort to better identify and address specific patient and community needs through improved data quality; advancing COVID-19 response, mitigation and recovery efforts; and help prepare for future public health emergencies.

HRSA’s initiative is designed to enable health centers to have better data on patient health status and social determinants of health. With better information, programs can tailor their efforts to improve health outcomes and advance health equity by more precisely targeting the needs of specific communities or patients, especially in the context of emergency response. of public health.

“Time and time again, the COVID pandemic has demonstrated the vital role of trusted community leaders in the delivery of health care services,” said HRSA Administrator Carole Johnson. “Health centers are that trusted resource in the most at-risk and hard-hit communities across the country. As we recognize the heroic work of frontline health workers who make health centers what they are, today we are also investing in the tools they need to help them continue to better serve their communities.”

The approximately 1,400 community health centers funded by HRSA in this country serve as the national source of primary care in underserved communities. They are community-based and patient-led organizations that provide affordable, accessible and high-quality medical, dental and behavioral health services to more than 30 million patients each year, with specific initiatives aimed at reaching people who are homeless, agricultural workers, and residents of low-income housing.

In 2021, HRSA-funded health centers provided care to one in five people in rural areas and one in 11 nationwide. One in three patients in a health center lives in poverty and nearly two-thirds belong to racial/ethnic minorities.

View an interactive map of today’s award recipients, including a state-by-state breakdown: https://bphc.hrsa.gov/funding/funding-opportunities/arp-uds-supplemental-funding/awards

Learn more about the Health Centers Program: https://bphc.hrsa.gov/about-health-centers/health-center-program-impact-growth

Watch the Heart of a health center video: https://youtu.be/M0PmHDcsaRQ

Find a health center: https://findahealthcenter.hrsa.gov/