On its first full day in office, the Biden-Harris administration released a comprehensive document laying out its widely anticipated plan to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. As we expected, the plan makes numerous references to the central role that Community Health Centers will play in this effort, given their status as trusted health care providers serving communities hard hit by the pandemic, testing more than 7,730,000 patients and diverting non-acute COVID cases from overwhelmed hospitals. The national strategy also includes a welcome discussion of the need for additional funding to enable health centers to expand their vaccination activities. Read blog.

Today, President-Elect Joe Biden proposed the expansion of Community Health Centers to fight health disparities in the COVID-19 pandemic. Declaring that “equity is essential to our COVID response,” Biden detailed a five-point plan that focuses on providing COVID vaccinations in marginalized, medically underserved communities.  Among the highlights of the plan are mobilizing federally supported vaccination sites across the country, invoking the Defense Production Act to boost vaccine supply and surging the public health force.

“Within the first month of our Administration, we are going to deploy mobile clinics, moving from community to community, that will partner with Community Health Centers and local primary care doctors to offer vaccines to hard-hit and hard-to-reach communities,” said Biden.

Other key highlights of the Biden plan include:

• Launching a new program with health centers so they can directly access vaccines where they are needed. The Administration will also encourage jurisdictions to engage and work closely with health centers in community vaccination planning.
• Ensuring that health centers have the resources they need to successfully launch vaccination programs.
• Calling on Congress for additional funds to support health centers and the Department of Health and Human Services to start new programs to provide guidance and technical assistance to providers nationwide.
• Mobilize a public health jobs program to support the COVID-19 response and funding 100,000 public health workers to nearly triple the public health workforce for community health tasks such as vaccine outreach and contact tracing. These individuals would eventually transition into community health roles to build long-term public health capacity and improve quality of care and reduce hospitalizations for underserved and low-income communities.

“We are deeply appreciative to the incoming Biden Administration for their recognition of health centers’ work on the frontlines of the pandemic for these many months,” said NACHC President and CEO Tom Van Coverden. “We are especially grateful that our voices have been heard regarding the urgent need to arm health centers with the tools they need as partners in the national vaccination effort, ensuring that our children, our elderly and disabled, and all of our workers are protected. We will continue to work with the President-Elect and his team to reach our mutual goals.”

The Biden proposals are outlined in a $1.9 trillion stimulus package, called the American Rescue Plan, which aims to change the course of the pandemic towards eradication, build a bridge towards economic recovery, and invest in racial justice.

Community Health Centers serve 30 million patients nationwide, including millions of essential workers – those who harvest our food in the fields, clean public spaces, care for our elderly and work in our factories and stores. Their patients include 14.5 million people living in poverty, 2.9 million people 65 and older, 19 million people who are of minority backgrounds, 1.5 million homeless people, and 20 million people with chronic health conditions.  Health centers have tested more than 7 million patients to date for COVID and helped divert non-acute cases from overwhelmed hospitals for nearly 11 months.

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Established in 1971, the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) serves as the national voice for America’s Health Centers and as an advocate for health care access for the medically underserved and uninsured.

 

NACHC Statement on Assault of U.S. Capitol:

“Yesterday’s assault on the U.S. Capitol made this first week of 2021 a painful and tumultuous one. For the membership of the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC), this mob violence follows a grueling year when health center staff saw the coronavirus pandemic afflict many of their patients and even their own families.

“They’re tired. We’re tired. And when meeting the needs of Americans during the pandemic should be our top priority, we find many of our nation’s leaders distracted time and again by issues that move us further away from the unity that is desperately needed at this time.

“The actions by Congress last night bring to a definitive close the question of who won the election. We now call on our elected representatives from both sides of the aisle to turn immediately to the people’s business.  First and foremost on that list is marshalling all resources to stop this deadly COVID-19 virus. We owe it to the families of the thousands of people lost to the virus. We owe it to all the health care providers and staff on the front lines.

“On behalf of our health centers and the communities they serve, many of whom are disproportionately affected by the pandemic, NACHC stands with them in the fight going forward to bring better health and healing to all.”

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With 2020 in the rearview mirror, Community Health Centers confront new challenges and a year that will hopefully look a lot different than the last. With passage of the stimulus package in the closing days of the year, health centers have some resources. President Trump signed into law on December 27, 2020, a massive spending bill that includes $1.4 trillion in government funding through the remainder of FY 2021 and $900+ billion in emergency COVID-19 relief. The funding package also includes Surprise Billing legislation. The bill passed Congress by a vote of 359-53 in the House and 91-7 in the Senate. Read details and learn about how the vaccination rollout is going in our new blog.

Jack Geiger, MD, one of the foremost leaders in the struggle for equality, social justice, and human rights nationally, died December 28 in New York City. He is broadly recognized as the father of the community-based health center model of care in the United States. He founded and directed the nation’s first urban and rural Community Health Centers at Columbia Point, Boston and Mound Bayou, Mississippi, in 1965  – inspiring the growth of the Community Health Center Program, which today serves 30 million people in more than 14,000 medically underserved communities located in every state, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Territories.

Dr. Geiger’s life and professional career are testaments to his determination to improve the quality of life of people suffering from poor health, poverty, and discrimination.   Early in his career, he promoted and led campaigns to end discrimination in-hospital care and admission to medical schools.  That effort extended to the civil rights movement in the 1960s when, as part of the Medical Committee for Human Rights, he organized medical students to provide care to civil rights workers protesting discrimination throughout the South.

Tom Van Coverden, President and CEO of the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC), noted, “Tributes will never adequately express the impact of Jack Geiger’s work on the lives of millions of Americans who benefit from his efforts today.  He was a leader and visionary who believed in the dignity and worth of every individual. With his community-based model of care, he called on government leaders and the medical profession to focus not just on delivering care, but to address the factors that influence overall health, such as poverty, homelessness, and lack of education.”

Thanks to Dr. Geiger, health centers today have become the largest primary care network in the nation, meriting bipartisan support from Presidents and Members of Congress. They remain a  proven platform from which to improve the American health care delivery system.    Health center patients include low-income families, the uninsured, agricultural workers, and many high-risk and vulnerable populations. Nearly 70 percent of health center patients live below the poverty level and two-thirds are members of racial and ethnic minorities. Moreover, during the COVID-19 crisis, health centers have stood at the forefront of providing testing – offering treatment and care in hard-hit minority communities and populations that have suffered disproportionately. As America embarks on a massive COVID vaccination campaign health centers have the trained workforce and community trust necessary to play an active role in ensuring that children, the elderly, and all workers are protected.

Dan Hawkins, former Policy Director for NACHC, added, “Throughout Jack’s many years as teacher and mentor, his noble deeds and compassion inspired young people to pursue careers in the health professions with the purpose and mission to serve humanity in areas of greatest need.  We will miss him dearly, but his work will live on in the legacy of the Community Health Centers Program.”

Dr. Geiger was also a founding member and past president of the Physicians for Human Rights (which received the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1998) and Physicians for Social Responsibility.  He used his scientific knowledge and the collective voices of these organizations to raise awareness about the humanitarian issues and concerns that impact health on a global scale.  He regularly lectured and authored extensive writings on the medical and biological effects of nuclear weapons.  In his work, he also brought to light human rights abuses – leading missions into Bosnia, Iraq and Kurdistan, the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Central America and other parts of the world.

He earned high honors for his selfless dedication to his profession and advocacy for minority populations and the medically underserved throughout the country and the world.  He was elected to Senior Membership in the Institute of Medicine and is the recipient of its highest honor, the Gustave O. Lienhard Award for contributions to minority health.   He is also the recipient of the American Public Health Association’s Sedgewick Memorial Medal for Distinguished Service in Public Health and NACHC’s Distinguished Public Service Award, among other countless awards and honorary degrees.

Dr. Geiger received his MD from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and held a degree in epidemiology from the Harvard School of Public Health. He served as the Arthur C. Logan Professor Emeritus of Community Medicine at the City University of New York Medical School.

Photo credit: Dr. Geiger and Dr. John Hatch during the construction of the Tufts-Delta Health Center.

 

Statement from Tom VanCoverden, NACHC President & CEO:

“The National Association of Community Health Centers applauds the work of the CDC, FDA, and top scientists and researchers in the development and now distribution of COVID-19 vaccines that our nation desperately needs to win the war against the horrendous pandemic that has sickened and killed so many.

As the trusted medical home for 30 million underserved and uninsured people in 14,500 rural, urban and frontier communities all across America, our Community Health Centers excel in their mission to expand the reach of health care. They have stood at the forefront for addressing natural disasters and multitudes of public health emergencies.  For over the past 50 years, they have served on the health care front lines in their communities achieving an unparalleled record of success in health promotion/disease prevention, safeguarding health and giving millions of people a chance for healthier and more productive lives.

During this next phase of massive inoculations of America’s population, which some aptly describe as a ‘herculean effort,’ community-based health centers are prepared and eager to move forward working in coordination with federal, state and local governments and public health authorities to protect the nation’s most vulnerable by providing access to the vaccines.  Equally important to successful nationwide vaccination efforts, health centers will call on their own health professionals, including outreach workers, consumer boards and community partners to help build trust and dispel misinformation about the safety of and need for COVID-19 vaccinations.  The goal is to get people vaccinated in a safe and timely manner and rid our communities of this threat that has caused untold suffering and death.

Eradication of the coronavirus is essential to the health of the entire country – putting millions of people back to work and kids back in their schoolrooms.  Working together as a nation will no doubt ensure we win the war against the public health crisis we now face and hopefully, lend new insight and lessons learned about the value of investment in a strong public health infrastructure for the future.”