Brown seeks funds release for FHCNO

U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown information

WASHINGTON, D.C. — With applications for funding for eight Ohio Community Health Centers (CHCs) pending at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) urged HHS Secretary Sylvia Matthews Burwell to release outstanding grant funding to help agencies like Van Wert’s Family Health Care of Northwest Ohio meet the demand for services.

“Community Health Centers in Ohio and across the U.S. are critical access points for underserved patients,” said Brown. “Every Ohioan deserves access to care, and allowing these funds to sit at HHS and go unallocated is a disservice to communities in need. HHS should work to promptly award the funding Congress made available for CHCs to the approved, unfunded Ohio applications still pending at the Agency. In doing so, we can help ensure that more Ohioans can make use of the critical primary and preventive care services that CHCs provide.”

“Family Health Care of Northwest Ohio is providing primary and preventive care but additional funds would allow us to expand our services to include dental care, which is a huge need in our community,” said Jennifer Smith, director of Family Health Care of Northwest Ohio. “Right now we don’t have a dentist in Van Wert that will take new Medicaid patients, and those who already take Medicaid patients only take a limited number. If we could become fully funded we could give our patients a dental home, which is a serious need in our area.”

“Statewide, we see the increase in demand for access to quality care. We commend Senator Brown for his leadership and assistance in bringing together a bipartisan group of senators from across the country to highlight this opportunity that will strengthen our primary care delivery system,” said Randy Runyon, CEO and president of the Ohio Association of Community Health Centers. “Congress has acted, and communities throughout Ohio have answered the call. We join Senator Brown in respectfully asking the Department to release the outstanding grant funding, as we stand ready to serve and welcome more Ohioans to their new health care homes.”

In a letter to Secretary Burwell, Brown asked HHS to promptly award remaining fiscal year 2015 funding by granting approval of pending grant applications. Funding for the Community Health Center Fund was first made available through the health law, which boosted funding for community health centers’ primary and preventive care services.