Community Health Centers to Share $6.8 Million In Federal Funds

TRENTON – Twenty New Jersey community health centers, including one at 410 Route 9 North, Court House, will receive $6.8 million in federal stimulus funds over the next two years in the latest round of grants to expand health care services to low-income medically underserved residents.
“These funds will ensure that New Jersey’s health care safety net remains strong during this economic crisis,” Gov. Jon S. Corzine said in a release. “As more New Jersey residents lose their health insurance they will turn to our community health centers for care. It is reassuring to know that the federal government is a true health care partner.”
New Jersey’s community health centers are among 1,128 nationwide that are receiving $338 million in federal stimulus funds to help an additional 2.1 million patients across the country. The funding is being provided by the Health Resources Services Administration, a branch of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).
“These expansion dollars will help to increase services, open additional sites and add new providers who serve the most needy in our state. This funding will provide critical medical care to an increasing number of patients,” said Health and Senior Services Commissioner Heather Howard.
New Jersey’s statewide network of 20 community health centers-with a total of 91 sites-provide primary and preventive health services to patients who are either uninsured, enrolled in FamilyCare or recipients of Medicaid and Medicare. More than 300,000 patients received care in community health centers last year.
Katherine Grant-Davis, President and CEO of the New Jersey Primary Care Association, the trade association that oversees the work of the health centers in New Jersey, said she is “gratified by the level of federal investment to build infrastructure. As the economy continues to decline, the federal government is projecting significant increases in the number of uninsured and so we have to do everything we can to build access to primary and preventive health care.”