HHS offering $300M to community health centers

The Department of Health and Human Services is offering $300 million to help community health centers treat newly insured patients under the Affordable Care Act.

The money will be used to expand service hours, hire more healthcare providers, and add oral health, behavioral health, pharmacy, and vision services according to HHS.

{mosads}HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said community health centers have helped more than 4.7 million people enroll in ObamaCare since last fall.

“Health centers are key to the Affordable Care Act’s goal of expanding access to health care,” said Sebelius. “They are critical providers of care and have also been instrumental in linking people to coverage through the Health Insurance Marketplace.”

The centers who want a piece of the pie will have to detail their plans to expand primary care treatment and services to underserved communities in their region.

According to HHS nearly 1,300 health centers run more than 9,000 facilities that care for over 21 million patients around the United States and its territories.

Centers that qualify for the grants will receive a base sum of $178,000, and an additional $2 per patient and $4 per uninsured patient.