Washington, DC – Community Health Center supporters from around the country have sent more than 20,000 calls and emails to Congress urging for action to pass funding on behalf of the millions who need affordable primary care services.
“Given the expiration of health center funding in a matter of days, NACHC recognizes the pending Continuing Resolution extending health center and primary care workforce funding,” said Joe Dunn, NACHC’s Chief Policy Officer. “However, any short-term extension presents challenges since it does not provide the certainty necessary to plan, retain or recruit staff, or increase funding to serve the 32.5 million patients who count on health centers for care. Health centers face significant financial challenges, with nearly half operating with unsustainable margins and 42 percent of health centers operating on 90 days of cash reserves or less. NACHC urges Congress to come together on a bicameral, bipartisan basis to advance legislation that provides longer-term and increased health center and primary care workforce funding, as you did in the December 2024 health package.”
In a Capitol Hill briefing this week, health center leaders and members of Congress described how health centers save the health system money and provide high-quality care to one in 10 Americans.
As the nation’s largest network of primary care providers, health centers are poised to play a key role in solving America’s healthcare problems, said Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS).
“Community Health Centers are part of the solution,” said Marshall, noting the importance of coaching patients in areas like better nutrition and management of chronic disease.
U.S. Rep. Danny K. Davis (D-IL) a co-chair of the bipartisan Community Health Center Caucus in the House of Representatives, underscored the importance of fighting for sustained and reliable funding for health centers, and expressed gratitude to the CHCs from around the country who traveled to Capitol Hill to press lawmakers for action. “Thank you for your advocacy,” he said.
“Deployed well, the Community Health Center model is the gold standard for cost-effective, high-quality primary care,” said Aaron Todd, CEO of the Iowa Primary Care Association.
The panel described how health centers are a healthcare lifeline in rural America. In Illinois, where the Christopher Rural Health Planning Corporation is located, President and CEO Kim Mitroka said it has taken decades for her health center to expand services into 10 different counties, where some communities do not even have a grocery store. She credits telehealth with increasing access to critical services, saying, “Our patients have additional resources that would otherwise be unavailable.”
“Nationally, health centers continually produce higher quality outcomes at a lower cost. And we find that health center patients make fewer visits to emergency rooms and hospitals,” said Patrick Sallee, President and CEO of Vibrant Health in Kansas City. Sallee explained how health centers deliver care that is both cost efficient and high quality, in part due to their collaborative model, where all care teams work together.
NACHC’s Board Chair Health Paloma Izquierdo-Hernandez, who is also the President and CEO of Urban Health Plan in New York, emphasized that health centers need longer-term funding to effectively plan and care for 32.5 million Americans.
“Health centers need not only continued funding at the current level but increased funding for longer periods of time,” explained Hernandez. “It’s really hard to run an organization when you’re not sure where your next dollar is coming from or for how long.”
House lawmakers passed a Continuing Resolution yesterday that extends health center and primary care workforce funding until the end of September. The Senate now has until this Friday to pass the measure or risk a government shutdown.