Community Health Centers Hail Disaster Relief Request for Including $260 Million To Support Primary Care Access in Wake of Hurricanes Helene, Milton, and Other Recent Disasters

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Amy Simmons Farber, 202-309-0338

Bethesda, MD-NACHC is pleased to announce that the Biden Administration included $260 million in its supplemental funding request to support health centers that are providing access to primary care after Hurricanes Helene, Milton, and other recent disasters. The funding request comes after a NACHC letter was sent to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) urging the Administration to consider the importance of protecting disaster-struck communities' access to primary care in its request to Congress.

"As safety net providers operating on razor-thin margins, health centers - and their communities - will struggle to recover from these disasters without dedicated federal support," said Kyu Rhee, MD, MPP, President & CEO of NACHC, in the letter. "Hurricanes Helene and Milton affected dozens of health centers across the southeast of our country, disrupting operations and causing severe hardship for health centers' staff and patients. When health centers are knocked offline, diabetic patients miss appointments, pregnant women miss prenatal visits, children miss routine vaccinations, and behavioral health patients have their therapy interrupted. These interruptions in care not only worsen patients' health but also lead to an increase in avoidable hospitalizations and emergency department visits, further straining a healthcare system that is otherwise focused on emergency response."

Health centers are the backbone of the nation's health care system-providing high-quality, primary and preventive care to over 32.5 million patients across 16,000 locations. Their patients include one in five rural residents, one in nine Medicaid beneficiaries, and one in five uninsured individuals. Health centers' unique governance model of patient-controlled boards makes them well-positioned to respond to the unique disaster recovery needs of their communities. In western North Carolina, health centers established temporary shelters, set up mobile health units, and deployed all-terrain vehicles to reach patients in rural areas. In Florida, health center staff, many of whom were displaced themselves, returned to help local communities, providing supplies, mobile healthcare services, and partnering with other organizations to address short-term needs.

About the National Association of Community Health Centers

NACHC is the leading innovative change agent collaborating with affiliates and partners to advance Community Health Centers as the foundation of an equitable health care system free from disparities and built on accessible, patient-governed, high-quality, integrated primary care.