Managed Healthcare Executive - March 2009 - (Page 25) { HOSPITALS AND PROVIDERS } FQHCs and community-based health plans make ideal partners The centers have saved the system an estimated $17.6 billion annually by diverting patients away from hospitals and ERs BY MIKE MCCUE T Mike McCue is a freelance writer based in Cleveland. HE BURDEN OF PROVIDING CARE for the neediest people often falls on the shoulders of federally quali ed health centers (FQHCs). However, funds for these clinics are drying up just as American families are experiencing considerably greater—and dramatically growing—need for their services. As part of former President George W. Bush’s Health Centers Initiative, launched in 2002 to increase access to primary care services, FQHCs are community-based organizations that provide comprehensive primary care and preventive care, including medical, oral, mental-health and substance-abuse services, to people of all ages—including migrant workers and non-citizens—with payment based on a sliding scale. They are not-forpro t, and the majority of the boards of directors must be consumers of the services provided by the facility. In 2007 alone, health centers provided care to more than 16 million people, including dental services for 2.8 million and mental-health services for 617,000 more. It was expected that Congress would pass a nal Omnibus FY 2009 Appropriations bill this quarter, and that it would include $100 million to $150 million in new funding for the centers. According to Deborah Kilstein, director of quality management and operational support for the Association for Community A liated Plans (ACAP), the funding would be used to establish new service sites in underserved communities, expand the o erings in already existing sites, and strengthen the centers’ dental, mental-health and pharmacy services. “While deeply appreciated by all community health centers, the nal funding level is well below the $248 million increase we requested last year, and below the growth rate needed to meet our Access for All America Plan targets,” Kilstein says. The Access for All America Plan is a comprehensive movement to reduce the ranks of America’s medically disenfranchised by preserving, strengthening, and expanding health centers to reach a total of 30 million patients by the year 2015. John Sniezek, CEO of Akron Community Health Resources (ACHR), an Ohio-based FQHC, believes that health centers will continue to be a high priority for President Obama, which bodes well for future funding and support. However, MARCH 2009 John Lund/Tiffany Schoepp/Getty Images 25
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