2018-05279. Health Center Program

AGENCY:

Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

ACTION:

Announcing Budget Period Extensions with Funding for the Health Center Program.

SUMMARY:

HRSA provided additional grant funds during extended budget periods to prevent interruptions in the provision of critical health care services for funded service areas until new awards could be made to eligible Service Area Competition (SAC) applicants or HRSA could conduct an orderly phase-out of Health Center Program activities by the current award recipients.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Recipients of the Award: Health Center Program award recipients for service areas that were threatened with a lapse in services due to service area re-announcement or transitioning award recipients, as listed in Table 1.

Amount of Non-Competitive Awards: 33 awards for $17,248,966.

Period of Supplemental Funding: Fiscal years 2016 and 2017.

CFDA Number: 93.224

Authority: Section 330 of the Public Health Service Act, as amended (42 U.S.C. 254b, as amended).

Justification: Targeting the nation's high need populations and geographic areas, the Health Center Program currently funds nearly 1,400 health centers that operate more than 11,000 service delivery sites in every state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and the Pacific Basin. Nearly 26 million people received accessible, affordable, quality primary health care services through the Health Center Program award recipients in 2016.

Approximately one-third of Health Center Program award recipients' service areas are competed each year, and each competition has the potential to result in a change in award recipient. SACs are also held prior to the current grant's project period end date when (1) a grant is voluntarily relinquished, or (2) a program noncompliance enforcement action taken by HRSA terminates the grant. If the SAC draws no fundable applications, HRSA may extend the current award recipient's budget period to ensure primary health care services remain available while a new competition is conducted for the service area.

The amount of additional grant funds is calculated by pro-rating HRSA's annual funding commitment to the service area. Approximately 6 months is required to announce and conduct a SAC and select a new award recipient. In all cases, current fiscal year funds are used to extend the award recipient's existing budget period award. Through these actions, award recipients receive consistent levels of funding to support uninterrupted primary health care services to the nation's underserved populations and communities during service area award recipient transition.

Table 1—Recipients and Award Amounts

Grant number	Award recipient name	Extension award date	Award amount ($)
H80CS06641	Ko'olauloa Community Health and Wellness Center, Inc	12/01/15	235,116
H80CS26606	Horizon Health and Wellness, Inc	12/23/15	182,771
H80CS26604	Neighborhood Outreach Access to Health	12/23/15	192,815
H80CS00851	Duval County Health Department	01/11/16	480,066
H80CS26560	East Central Missouri Behavioral Health Services, Inc.	01/15/16	281,845
H80CS00048	Santa Cruz County	01/15/16	672,655
H80CS00001	City of Springfield, Massachusetts	01/15/16	606,761
H80CS00384	Monroe County Health Center	01/15/16	640,737
H80CS26631	La Casa de Salud, Inc	01/15/16	563,753
H80CS00400	Circle Family Healthcare Network, Inc	01/22/16	501,296
H80CS00013	Covenant House (Under 21)	02/03/16	279,116
H80CS26632	Whitman-Walker Clinic, Inc	02/06/16	423,273
H80CS00054	Metropolitan Development Council	02/06/16	457,843
H80CS00055	White Bird Clinic	02/10/16	412,985
H80CS26587	Saint Hope Foundation	02/10/16	229,491
H80CS26620	Korean Health, Education, Information and Research Center	02/12/16	504,386
H80CS26513	FirstMed Health and Wellness Center	02/12/16	596,025
H80CS08770	Health Center of Southeast Texas	02/12/16	737,066
H80CS00872	Madison County Community Health Center	03/01/16	467,855
H80CS00622	The Hunter Health Clinic, Inc	03/08/16	450,569
H80CS10606	St. Vincent de Paul Village, Inc	04/06/16	334,418
H80CS06078	Yakima Neighborhood Health Services	04/06/16	1,025,892
H80CS17251	Upper Room Aids Ministry, Inc. Health Care Center	04/06/16	738,043
H80CS00722	Community Clinic of Maui, Inc	04/06/16	570,042
H80CS01443	Lane County	05/15/16	649,218
H80CS00054	Metropolitan Development Council	06/14/16	228,922
H80CS00299	Brazos Valley Community Action Agency, Inc	01/17/17	1,520,645
H80CS00814	Kalihi-Palama Health Center	01/17/17	1,105,506
H80CS00802	Harrington Family Health Center	02/22/17	294,843
H80CS00436	Family Health Centers of Baltimore	02/27/17	743,058
H80CS00283	Oakland Primary Health Services, Inc	03/03/17	466,752
H80CS00291	The University of Pittsburgh	05/02/17	116,417
H80CS06445	Fourth Ward d.b.a. Good Neighbor Healthcare Center	05/30/17	538,786

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Matt Kozar, Strategic Initiatives and Planning Division Director, Office of Policy and Program Development, Bureau of Primary Health Care, Health Resources and Services Administration, at [e-mail] or 301-443-1034.

Dated: March 8, 2018.

George Sigounas,

Administrator.