First Lady announces $851M in grants for community health centers

June 30, 2009 | Molly Merrill, Associate Editor

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WASHINGTON – First Lady Michelle Obama announced the release of $851 million in grants to Community Health Centers on Monday.

The Recovery Act Capital Improvement Program (CIP) grants will support the construction, repair and renovation of more than 1,500 health center sites nationwide. More than 650 centers will use the funds to purchase new equipment or health information technology systems, and nearly 400 health centers will adopt and expand the use of electronic health records.

“For centers around the country, these Recovery Act grants will mean new diagnostic equipment, renovation of facilities that need repair, expanding computer centers to help manage electronic medical records, adding on new staff (and) expanding programs that work. And over the next two years, Recovery Act dollars for community health centers will expand desperately-needed services to more than 2.8 million people,” said Obama, who made the announcement while visiting Unity's Upper Cardozo Health Center in Washington.

The CIP grant awards are the third set of health center grants provided through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

“And there's another part of this equation beyond health,” continued Obama. “When Unity builds those 20 new exam rooms, they'll be creating jobs and putting people to work in construction and renovation. When a health center in rural Illinois purchases a new computer center, it's going to keep a programmer in the Silicon Valley on the job. So as we provide quality healthcare to more people, there will be this multiplier effect that will also provide more jobs to more workers."

“Just think about the impact of all these Recovery Act grants all over the entire country. Every single health center that applied for a grant will receive at the very least $200,000.   And every dollar of every grant is going to make a difference in the life of someone in need,” Obama said.

To see a list of Recovery Act CIP grantees by state, go to www.hhs.gov/recovery.

Reader Comments (2)Login to Post a Comment

TomMariner says: $851M in Grants

July 01, 2009 | 2:52PM GMT

I believe that better access to primary care physicians and more use of electronic health records will help the patients in our country.

But I am having a tough time reconciling cutting payments to existing healthcare organizations and closing hospitals with giving (that's what a grant is) money to "competing" organizations. Either we are saying that for any price the existing hospitals and doctors are refusing or are unable to care for these patients, or we are deliberately using federal tax money to drive hospitals and their clinics out of business while favoring some other form of "community" healthcare.

An interesting scenario exists in my backyard where the Community Health Centers are owned by the county but in effect, management is helped by and greatly influenced by the local hospital community. In that way, not only do we have professionals who target a local population, but they and their patients get the advantage of the expertise and management skills of an acute care facility.

ripjones says: Jobs Created by Capital Improvement Program

June 30, 2009 | 2:45PM GMT

My definition of job creation is a little different than the Administration"s definition. When I hear job creation, I think of a full-time, lifetime job. Yes, you will create short-term construction jobs, but when the "exam room construction" or "renovation work" is complete @ the Unity Center, where is the next job that newly created consturction worker going to work on ? You have created short-term employment, but you have not created a job, that someone can point to with pride. We still have not seen ANY new jobs created by this adminstration, based upon my definition. The person will work for awhile, but will be back on the unemployment roll after that.