Arkansas' 12 community health centers will share almost $2.8 million in supplemental funding made available under the 2010 federal health care overhaul law, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced Friday.
The money is part of $295 million awarded nationwide to allow community health centers to hire an estimated 4,750 new employees, helping them to stay open for longer hours or to offer additional services such as dental care, behavioral health care, and pharmacy and vision services, according to a news release from the federal department.
In Arkansas, the money will allow the state's health centers to hire 35 employees and serve an estimated 9,432 more patients, according to the release.
Kathy Grisham, director of the Springdale-based Community Clinic, said her health center will use its award of $284,156 to hire three new employees, including one who works in pediatrics and two in family medicine.
The employees will be "mid-level" providers: either advanced-practice registered nurses or physicians' assistants, Grisham said.
The new employees will allow the center's clinics to serve about 750 new patients in the next year, she said.
The funding won't fully pay the cost of the new hires, she said.
"Getting funding like this for one year is great, because that way we can expand services and hopefully have the patients to offset that cost in coming years," she said.
She said the funding could be renewed for a second year if Congress allocates additional money.
Despite health insurance options that became available under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act on Jan. 1, many Community Clinic patients still lack coverage, Grisham added.
Before January, about 39 percent of the clinic's patients were uninsured. This year, that has dropped to about 34 percent, she said.
"We are the safety net for people who don't have access to care," Grisham said.
Supported by the federal Health Resources and Services Administration, health centers operate in areas that lack other providers or have high percentages of people who lack insurance and have health problems. Patients pay fees that vary according to income.
The health care law allocated $11 billion in additional funding for health centers over five years.
Arkansas' 12 health centers operate 93 clinics in 51 of the state's 75 counties.
In addition to the money for the Community Clinic, the funding announced Friday includes:
• $335,364 for ARcare in Augusta.
• $237,016 for East Arkansas Family Health Center in West Memphis.
• $232,738 for Corning Area Health Care in Corning.
• $231,446 for Boston Mountain Rural Health Center in Marshall.
• $230,950 for River Valley Primary Care Services in Ratcliff.
• $220,582 for Mainline Health Systems in Dermott.
• $215,856 for Cabun Rural Health Services in Hampton.
• $205,292 for Healthy Connections in Mena.
• $205,146 for Lee County Cooperative Clinic in Marianna.
• $200,192 for Mid-Delta Health Systems in Clarendon.
• $171,797 for Jefferson Comprehensive Care System in Pine Bluff.
Metro on 09/13/2014