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» News & Events » 2010 Press Releases » 10/11 - $12m federal grant awarded
$12m federal grant awarded to Central Health for new community health center
Central Health was notified on Friday, Oct. 8 of a $12 million federal capital development program grant to help finance the construction of the new North Central Community Health Center at 1210 West Braker Lane. The grant was awarded by the Health Resources and Services Administration, part of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, and was issued under the Affordable Care Act to directly fund the construction of this new state-of-the-art community health center.
"We are ecstatic the federal government decided to award us with this grant to help build our new health center. This funding will allow us to do more with the local funds we have available," Central Health Board of Managers Chairperson Dr. Thomas Coopwood said. "We take every opportunity to leverage our local dollars and this particular opportunity is a quintessential example of those efforts."
The North Central Health Center will be designated as a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) and will be operated by CommUnityCare, a non-profit healthcare provider affiliated with Central Health.
"Central Health and CommUnityCare are maximizing our Federally Qualified Health Center status to increase access to care for those who need it most. Since funding has become available for expanded services, we have brought more than $15 million into our community. Plans are underway to utilize this long-standing health center system to ready our community for further opportunities that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act offers to enhance access to primary care, some of the most affordable and preventative investments we can make in our local healthcare infrastructure," Central Health President & CEO Patricia Young Brown said.
"We look forward to the opportunity to operate this facility in an area of growing need. This new location will more than double the number of individuals we can see in a year, from around 10,000 at CommUnityCare Northeast to more than 22,000,” CommUnityCare CEO David B. Vliet said. “In addition, we are looking forward to the opportunity to expand specialty care services, another area of continued need. We will continue to leverage our FQHC status into the future, taking advantage of every possible opportunity coming our way in order to provide the best care and the greatest number of services we possibly can. For example, it’s a little known fact, but in addition to the grant award of $2.1 million we receive from HRSA each year to provide the approved scope of services, the FQHC system is also able to make available significantly discounted pharmaceuticals for our patients."
Ground for the North Central Health Center was broken on Sept. 1 with an expected opening date in the fall of 2011. The total budgeted cost of construction is $18 million. This is the first new health center built by Central Health. The center will serve the rapidly expanding population of north central Austin and Travis County, one of the fastest growing areas in the Central Texas region. The primary users of this facility will be uninsured Travis County residents who meet certain eligibility requirements and anyone covered by Medicaid, Medicare as well as children enrolled in CHIP. Approximately 70 percent of patients seen by CommUnityCare are women and children.
Primary care services to be offered will include family practice, internal medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics (including an audiology office), dental, nutrition services, and behavioral health counseling/psychiatry, as well as a staff dietician. To allow patients to receive a full range of services in a single medical home, select specialty care services such as gastroenterology, dermatology, cardiology and endocrinology are planned for the future.
To learn more about Central Health, including more about the North Central Health Center, visit www.centralhealth.net. To learn more about CommUnityCare visit www.communitycaretx.org.