For more than 40 years, community health centers have delivered comprehensive, high-quality preventive and primary health care to patients in the communities where they live, regardless of their ability to pay.
Each year, over 7,900 Community Health Centers around the country provide high-quality care to nearly 19 million Americans, often as the primary source of care in low-income or rural communities.
This week, we are celebrating community health centers, and the critical role they play for the health and wellbeing of millions of Americans.
To celebrate Community Health Center Week, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius sat down with Health Resources Services (HRSA) Administrator Dr. Mary Wakefield, and community health leaders to talk about how the Recovery Act & the Affordable Care Act are helping deliver higher quality care to people who have been underserved for years.
Watch the webchat right here:
http://www.healthcare.gov/news/blog/chcwebchat.html
The Affordable Care Act invests nearly $11 billion over ten years in community health centers, allowing the centers to serve 20 million more Americans.
This means that more Americans will be able to visit a doctor, more children can get their vaccines, and more low-income families can get access to preventive care needed to help avoid chronic illnesses. And fewer people will have to visit an emergency room to get basic care, saving money for our health care system.
What’s more, we are also making new investments in our health care workforce, by strengthening and growing the number of family doctors, physicians’ assistants, nurses, dentists and mental health workers. Altogether, the Recovery Act and Affordable Care Act will support the training and development of more than 16,000 new primary care providers over the next five years.
Our goal is to build a healthier America, one community at a time.
You can hear how we are doing this by checking out our webchat:
http://www.healthcare.gov/news/blog/chcwebchat.html
And you can always turn to www.HealthCare.gov for more information.
Thank you,
Jenny Backus
Acting Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs
