RALEIGH, NC (December 2016) – Friday, December 15, 2016:
Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell announced six New Access Point Grant awards to serve a proposed 21,392 new patients in North Carolina. Nationally, over $50 million in funding has been granted to 75 new health center sites in 23 states and 2 U.S. territories to increase access to health care services for nearly 650,000 patients.
“We expect this competitive New Access Point funding to provide health care to more than 240,000 additional patients,” said Dr. Mary Wakefield, Acting Deputy Secretary at HHS. “These new health center sites will contribute significantly to the health of families and communities across the nation.”
Community Health Centers (CHCs) are nonprofit, community-based and patient-directed organizations that serve populations with limited access to health care. For 50 years, CHCs have been a vital part of North Carolina’s healthcare system, providing comprehensive, culturally competent, quality primary health care services to medically underserved communities and vulnerable populations.
E. Benjamin Money, CEO of the North Carolina Community Health Center Association (NCCHCA), said “The family of Community Health Centers in North Carolina is pleased to welcome two new federally qualified health centers in Hoke and Wilkes Counties and to expand access to services through four existing Community Health Centers. Rural North Carolina struggles with access to health care services, so we are grateful for federal support that will bring new access and services to rural residents of Hoke and Wilkes Counties. Community health centers offer a model of integrated health care services that is nationally recognized and offers high quality care at a low cost. These awards grow our footprint such that there are now community health center sites in 74 NC counties.”
HHS New Access Point Grantees:
• Community Health Interventions and Sickle Cell Agency, Hoke County — $797,331
• Southside United Health Center, Winston Salem — $270,833
• Craven County Government, New Bern — $270,833
• Goshen Medical Center, Inc, Faison — $650,000
• Wilkes County OF, Wilkesboro — $793,324
• Blue Ridge Community Health Services, Inc. Hendersonville — $775,000
# # #
About the North Carolina Community Health Association
The North Carolina Community Health Center Association serves as the collective voice for North Carolina’s 40Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) and Look-alikes (LAs)—aka Community Health Centers (CHCs). Our members offer a patient-governed, patient-centered health care home that integrates high quality medical, dental, behavioral health, pharmacy, and enabling services without regard to a person’s ability to pay. NCCHCA members are geographically dispersed across 74 counties and operate 200 clinical sites.
