WASHINGTON – The Rhode Island Health Center Association received a $75,000 planning grant to help its member health centers gear up for the substantial expansion of increased access to health insurance under the new national health care reform law.
The federal grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services was Rhode Island’s share of $8 million provided nationwide
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The grant recognizes that “increased access to health insurance will required increased access to the type of high-quality, low-cost primary health care that our nation’s network of community health centers provide,” said Jane A. Hayward, president and CEO of Rhode Island Health Center Association.
Currently, there are 10 community health centers in Rhode Island that serve about 12 percent of the state’s residents, seeing about 120,000 patients with half-a-million visits in 2009, according to Rhode Island Health Center Association officials.
The goal of the community health centers is to provide high-quality, low-cost primary health care to Rhode Islanders whether they have no insurance, private insurance or RIte Care/Medicaid.
Nationally, it is anticipated that the community health centers will need to be able to double their capacity by 2014. The need to expand capacity here in Rhode Island will be less, according to association officials.
Money from the grant will be used to provide technical assistance in the areas of community development, expansion planning, patient-centered medical home development, meaningful use of health information technology and workforce development, Hayward said.
