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Hoosier Health Centers to Receive Federal Boost

Seven community centers in Indiana have been selected to receive Affordable Care Act funding to improve care for Medicare patients. The facilities are among 500 centers that will receive nearly $42 million from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

http://www.insideindianabusiness.com/newsitem.asp?id=50441&ts=true

October 25, 2011

News Release

Community centers selected for the award in Indianaare:
-Healthlinc Inc. in Valparaiso
-Heartcity Health Center Inc. in Elkhart
-Indiana Health Centers Inc. in Logansport, Seymour, Kokomo and South Bend
-Vermillion-Parke Community Health inClinton

Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, 500 community health centers in 44 states across the country will receive approximately $42 million over three years to improve the coordination and quality of care they deliver to people with Medicare and other patients, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced today.

“Health centers are integral parts of our communities,” said Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Donald M. Berwick, M.D. “This initiative will give participating health centers the help they need to improve care for many people with Medicare who rely on them as their main source of care.”

Under this Advanced Primary Care Practice demonstration, created by the Affordable Care Act, Medicare will pay community health centers based on the quality of care they deliver. This improved payment system will reward clinics for such things as helping patients manage chronic conditions like diabetes or high blood pressure.

In addition, health centers will use this funding to expand their hours, make same day appointments and accommodate patients with urgent care needs.

“The goal of this demonstration is to help patients get the care they need in a primary care setting rather than in an emergency department,” said Dr. Berwick. “When patients are able to use a health center as their primary source of care, it helps primary care doctors, nurses and specialists coordinate their care. Health centers will also use health care dollars more wisely as patients receive the right tests, right medications and right treatments in the right setting.”

The demonstration will be conducted from November 1, 2011 through October 31, 2014. Participating health centers will be paid a monthly fee for each eligible person with Medicare that receives primary care services. TheCMSCenterfor Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (InnovationCenter) and the Health Resources Services Administration (HRSA) will provide technical assistance to help participating community health centers throughout the demonstration.

“The lessons learned from this demonstration project will help all community health centers improve on their long–standing commitment to providing high quality, patient-centered primary care,” said Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Administrator Mary K. Wakefield, PhD., R.N. “This program will help strengthen the relationship between the more than 8,100 health center sites HRSA helps fund and the communities they serve.”

To study the process and challenges involved in transforming community health centers into advanced primary care practices, theInnovationCenterwill conduct an independent evaluation of the demonstration. The evaluation will assess the project’s impact on hospital admission rates; emergency department visits rates, access, quality and cost of care provided to Medicare beneficiaries. The evaluation will also assess whether the demonstration was cost effective.

This Advanced Primary Care Practice demonstration is operated by theInnovationCenterin partnership with HRSA. It is one of a number of initiatives made possible by the Affordable Care Act to help bring better health and better health care not just to Medicare beneficiaries, but to all Americans, while helping use healthcare dollars more wisely.

For example, the HRSA Health Center Quality Improvement and Patient Centered Medical Home Supplemental Funding initiative is providing 904 community health centers nationwide new support to provide care coordination services to patients including care planning and efforts to help doctors work together to deliver better care for patients.

Health centers improve the health of the nation and assure access to quality primary health care services at more than 8,100 service delivery sites around the country. They are also an integral source of local employment and economic growth in many underserved and low-income communities. Since the beginning of 2009, health centers across the country have added more than 18,600 new full-time positions in many of the nation’s most economically distressed communities. In 2010, they employed more than 131,000 staff and new funds, made available by the Affordable Care Act in September, will help create thousands more jobs nationwide.

For more information on how the Affordable Care Act is finding better ways to improve healthcare, visit www.HealthCare.gov

More information on the Advanced Primary Care Practice demonstration project, including a fact sheet, and a list of participating health centers can be found at: http://innovations.cms.gov/areas-of-focus/seamless-and-coordinated-care-models/fqhc/

Source:U.S.Department of Health and Human Services

 

4/18/11

Grassroots Advocacy Update: With Success Comes Challenge

As you probably know by now, details of the FY2011 funding “deal” between the White House, the Senate Democratic Leadership, and the House Republican Leadership were announced earlier this week. The bill, H.R. 1473, cuts $38.5 from the current level government spending over the next 6 months, and after an increase in Defense spending, the total domestic discretionary spending cut is about $42 billion. For health centers, the outcome was decidedly mixed.

First, the bottom line: According to Congressional summaries, no health centers will have to close and funding should be available to continue current services. This includes those health centers that opened and services that were added due to ARRA. There should also be some funding leftover, after accounting for keeping existing activities whole, for health center expansion.

The bad news is deeply disappointing for us all; our health center expansion as envisioned in health reform is dramatically scaled back in this bill. As referenced above, because most of the funding available is needed to keep existing services going, there will be precious little to support expansion plans previously announced by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).

Some of the details: Documents released by the House Appropriations Committee indicate that the Health Centers program is likely to be reduced by $600 million relative to the FY2010-enacted level of $2.19 billion. The Affordable Care Act FY2011 funding for health centers should make up for this cut and provide an additional $400 million. The bill also contains a 0.2% across-the-board cut to all non-defense programs, including the Health Centers program. A combination of Congressional documents and previous HRSA statements indicate that the highest priority will be given to keeping the FTCA fund solvent and maintaining existing services at health centers.

Based on Congressional documents and previous HRSA statements, this level of funding should allow for the following:

-The ARRA New Access Points (NAP) and Increased Demand for Services (IDS) activities to continue (at an annual cost of $250 million)

-A $55 million increase to the Health Center Tort Claims Act Fund if needed to keep the fund solvent.

-Slightly less than $100 million for health center expansion activities.

This was not the outcome any of us had hoped for, but it could have been much worse. We have no doubt that $400 million in funding that was restored from the cuts proposed by the House to the Health Centers program was a direct result of your advocacy. Members of Congress were convinced that enacting a real cut to the Health Centers program was not acceptable, especially in light of your success in these tough economic times.

Over the past two months, Health Center advocates produced unprecedented levels of grassroots activity in every corner of the country. Health Center advocates generated almost 50,000 phone calls, emails, patient letters and petition signatures, Letters to the Editor, Opinion Editorials, and in-person meetings with Members of Congress. Your effort made a real impact and set a new standard for what we can achieve. However, it’s a standard we will have to surpass immediately and significantly because the road ahead will demand even greater effort.

Today we must recommit ourselves as Health Center advocates. Now and in the months ahead we will have to worker harder than ever before to protect and preserve the Health Centers program and the resources necessary to be successful.

3/31/11

Take Action: Health Center Funding at Risk Take Action!
 
 
Final House & Senate Negotiationson Health Center Funding Happening NOW! We Need Another BIG Grassroots Advocacy Push NOW to Avoid CUTS!CALL AND Email ALL YOUR Members of Congress TODAY! Negotiations on final Fiscal Year 2011 funding are reaching a critical point as we speak! We know you have heard this before, but reports from Capitol Hill do tell us that House and Senate leaders really are moving toward an agreement on the final cuts for the remainder of FY11. What we do know is that the decision on Health Center funding is being finalized RIGHT NOW!

YOUR Members of Congress need to hear from YOU and EVERY Health Center Advocate again BEFORE any final decisions are made.

CALL AND EMAIL your Senators and Representative and tell them to OPPOSE CUTS to the Health Centers Program and to do everything they can to keep discretionary funding LEVEL at the FY2010 level of $2.19 billion.

1) CALL your Senators and Representative directly using the toll-free NACHC Advocacy Hotline at 1-866-456-3949. When you finish talking to one office, you will be given the option to be directed to another without having to dial in again.Please send us an email (grassroots@nachc.com) to let us know you called so we are aware of your response.

THEN

2)      Click the Take Action link in the upper right hand corner of this alert to send your Senators and Representative a message.

THEN

3)     Forward this alert to your family, friends and colleagues and ask them to take action on this alert to prevent cuts to Health Center funding IMMEDIATELY.

Health Center funding is still in jeopardy! While there is no guarantee that these negotiations will yield a final agreement, we must do everything we can at each step in the process to ensure discretionary Health Center funding is protected and kept whole. We will keep you informed of any changes in the process or negotiations as soon as we become aware.

Your Members of Congress need to hear NOW what a cut in funding will mean for YOUR Health Center and your community. Please call AND email your Senators and Representative NOW and ask them to oppose cuts to the Health Centers program and level-fund health centers.

——————————————————————————————

Keeping health centers funding whole will:

o    Ensure that health center funding  accounts for the growth the program experienced in the past 18 months by adding 3.7 million patients, 127 new centers, and 10,000 new jobs;

o    Allow HRSA to make awards for the new access point (NAP), expanded services (ES), and planning grant funding opportunities the agency previously announced; and

o    Extend the cost-effective, high-quality and patient-directed model of care to patients who currently lack a routine source of primary care and would otherwise seek care in emergency departments or delay care until hospitalization is the only option.

o    Decades of research have shown that health centers RETURN money to the health care system, including the nation’s entitlement programs. In fact each year, on just a $2 billion investment, health centers generate $24 billion in savings to the health care system. This makes health centers a very worthwhile investment.

Any cut to health centers MUST be rejected.

3/24/11

WE NEED YOUR HELP! The House of Representatives passed a Continuing Resolution that would cut $1.3 Billion dollars of existing health center funding – nearly 60%! This will mean that access to affordable health care is in jeopardy for millions of Americans and thousands of Hoosiers.

In practical terms, this is what it means for Heart City:

1.       The Enhanced Services application we just submitted for 2 Nurse Practitioners will not be funded. We projected that each of these providers would have a panel of 1,000 patients. So, 2,000 Elkhart citizens who are currently looking for care will find it only in the Emergency Rooms.

2.       No funding will be made available for any new community health centers from the application submitted in December 2010. We projected that the 3 providers at that site would serve an addition 3,500 people. So, 3,500 Elkhart citizens who are currently looking for care will find it only in the Emergency Rooms.

For other health centers in the state, it cuts much deeper:

1.       Any health center funded under the ARRA/Stimulus program will have to shut down at month’s end.

2.       Any health center who hasn’t completed its Capital Improvement Project (like our renovation) will lose the remaining CIP grant and be left to figure out how to complete the project

For Indiana, NACHC (our national association) has projected this will mean a loss of 2 Community Health Centers. (We currently have 19). It will mean 77,170 Hoosiers will not have access to health care. And it means an immediate funding cut of $3,765,920!

As a health care system, other cuts proposed in this Continuing Resolution will also impact us:

  • Cuts to the Child & Maternal Health Programs – will increase the number of kids coming to the health center without access to health and nutrition programs
  • Cuts to the Family Planning Programs – will likely increase the number of unwanted pregnancies and drive those patients to health centers for OB care. (HEALTH CENTERS DO NOT PERFORM ABORTIONS)
  • Cuts to the National Health Service Corp – decreases our ability to attract physicians and medical providers to our communities.

To be clear, this cut is NOT related to Health Reform. It is about the current provision of service to the low income populations in our communities and reflects proposed changes to the 2011 budget (which ends June 30).

WE NEED YOUR HELP! This now goes to the Senate. They must hear our voices that this type of cut is harmful to the health of our communities. While we do understand the need for fiscal responsibility, cuts of this magnitude damage the safety net right in the middle of one of our country’s worst economic times. With unemployment still at 9% nation-wide and more than 15% in the City of Elkhart, our services are desperately needed by people in this community – your family, your neighbors, your church family and friends.

Please take a minute to visit the NACHC “Health Center Advocacy Network” at the following link: http://www.capwiz.com/nachc/issues/alert/?alertid=26221501&type=CO and raise your voice on behalf of Heart City Health Center.  A brief summary is presented about this particular issue. You will then be able to register to contact your legislator. A pre-populated email will be generated and you can simply submit it without worrying about what to say. It’s important that they hear from us and our concern about this destabilizing a system of healthcare for 11 million Americans nation-wide and thousands of Hoosiers.

You can also visit the FY 2011 FUNDING CUTS Information Center at: http://www.nachc.org/FY2011cutsinfocenter.cfm to get the latest information along with facts that identify the impact and importance of health centers for many Americans.

3/22/11

250,000th PATIENT VISIT

Heart City Health Center, Inc. has reached a milestone of community wellness by having its 250,000th patient visit this month.  Heart City Health Center (HCHC) is a community health center that provides medical, dental, and pharmaceutical services to low income residents who don’t have access to traditional health insurance. What started out as a vision of Max Abernathy and the South Central Neighborhood Association has grown from a free, volunteer-run clinic in Washington Gardens to a comprehensive medical and dental clinic that cares for over 11,000 people annually.

Did you know?

  • 1 in 5 residents of the city of Elkhart are getting their primary health care at Heart City?
  • ½ of our 11,710 patients are children?
  • HCHC provides sliding fee discounts up to 90% off regular charges?
  • In 2010, the total amount of sliding fee scale discounts was $932,987?
  • The cost per patient at HCHC is 72% of the national average for community health centers?
  • Health centers produced $24 billion in annual health system savings?

250,000 patient visits mean that our friends and family are getting healthier and not just because we are getting people in the door, but because of outstanding clinical health outcomes we are achieving compared to other community health centers locally and nationally. Our babies are born healthier, our toddlers are immunized on time, more women are getting their annual exam, and more diabetic patients are managing their disease properly.  That is more children not missing school, more parents not missing work, and more grandparent hugs.

HCHC is taking care of our community’s health, nourishing our economy, and boosting wellness from one corner of the city to the next. The true value of a health center home comes from the community benefit of health. One who has health has hope; one who has hope has everything.

Posted February 24, 2011

Advocacy Update: Senate to Take Up FY11 Health Center Funding More Info
 
 
The Battle on Health Center FY11 Funding ContinuesSenate to Take Up Health Center Funding Cuts As Soon As Next Week!On Saturday, February 19th, the House of Representatives approved a Continuing Resolution (CR), H.R. 1 that cut $1.3 billion from the Health Centers Program and represents real and significant threat to keeping health center funding whole. As advocates know, these cuts threaten the 127 new ARRA funded health centers and jeopardize access to care to the 3.3 million new patients. The proposed bill would also halt the expansion of the cost-effective health center model for FY2011, meaning no funding for New Access Points, Expanded Services applications that have already been submitted would go unfunded, and communities seeking planning grants for health centers would not be awarded.Advocates should also be aware that the House passage of the CR is the first step in the process. The Senate and White House will have significant involvement in this process and for the House bill to become law, both chambers (House AND Senate) will ultimately need to pass the same bill.While we can’t be sure how things will unfold over the next few weeks, we do know that NOW is the time to educate Senators and their staff about what these cuts would mean to your health center and community and to continue to advocate for level discretionary funding of $2.19 billion in FY2011. Action in the Senate could occur as early as next week and advocates should be prepared for an even greater advocacy push as this process moves through the Senate. NOW is the time to recruit more advocates and be ready to respond when the call to action arrives.

Look for a full Action Alert for the Senate within the next week, and starting NOW make every effort possible to educate Senators about the impact of these devastating cuts. Advocates should ask their Senators to reject the cut to Health Center funding in H.R. 1 and explain that maintaining level funding will enable health centers to continue to serve the over 21 million existing health center patients and expand to meet the needs of America’s underserved who lack a health care home (reaching 40 million patients by 2015).

To help advocates explain what these cuts will mean in real terms, NACHC has created an Information Center which houses resources laying out the Impacts of the Proposed Cuts (including the state-by-state impact of the cuts in H.R. 1) as well as fact sheets on the Return of Investment of Health Centers. Advocates can also review the NACHC statement on the impact of H.R. 1 in response to the House vote and passage of H.R. 1.

The battle over health center funding is just beginning. It is important now more than ever before that health center advocates send a clear message to the Senate that the cuts to health center funding are unacceptable. Thank you for your continued support and commitment to Health Center advocacy!

 

Advocates may also Take Action Tomorrow! Make sure programs like the Community HealthCorps, AmeriCorps, VISTA and Senior Corps are not zeroed out. Visit www.saveservice.org to make a difference.