Health Centers, such as Community Health of South Florida (CHI), serve the working poor, uninsured and homeless around the state. If no new funding is authorized by early December, federally qualified health centers could lose up to 70 percent of their 2018 funding if Congress doesn’t act to pass legislation to help them. Further delays are also hindering 2018 planning for many health centers.

 

“With this large degree of uncertainty, it’s very difficult for us to plan,” says Brodes H. Hartley, Jr., President and CEO of CHI.

 

Community health centers have taken a prominent role in providing health care across the country. Today, there are more than 1,400 community health centers across the nation providing primary care to nearly 26 million people. It’s the largest network of primary healthcare providers in the country and it plays a prominent role in the delivery of quality healthcare services, especially to the uninsured and underserved populations.

 

Hartley remains hopeful however since there has been bipartisan support for community health centers in the past. For instance, under President George Bush Jr., the administration wanted to double the number of people served by community health centers in his first term.

 

“In his second term as president, President Bush proposed to place a community health center in every poor county in America,” says Hartley. “That support continued with President Obama, who wanted to double the number of people cared for by community health centers from 20 million to 40 million. We are very confident, even with the uncertainty now, that in the final analysis, we will get the support that we need for community health centers.”

 

So what happens if 70% of the funding is lost?

Hartley notes that CHI is fortunate that it does have multiple sources of funding to prevent them from closing its doors, unlike those health centers who are funded 100% by federal dollars. However, he points out that it will be affected in others ways.

 

“We are an employer in the communities that we serve,” he says. “The people we employ come from the community and we serve the people in the community. That employment in the community will be greatly affected.”

 

In addition to loss of jobs, federal cuts could also lead to a loss of business for vendors. As an economic incubator for the community, CHI has long purchased services from businesses in the communities that it serves. While CHI has a $70 million budget, its economic impact on the community is estimated to be about $125 million a year.

 

“We are also providing health education to the community,” Hartley adds. “We try to educate the next generation of healthcare professionals through our affiliations with the educational institutions including Florida International University, University of Miami, University of Florida, and Miami-Dade College, Florida Atlantic University, and other institutions.”

 

Students from these institutions often gain clinical experiences in nursing, nursing assistance, pharmacy, physical therapy, and family medicine. Currently, there are 31 physicians in CHI’s residency program right now. There are 60 community health centers like CHI which have been designated as teaching centers across the country. Those programs would be in jeopardy if the funding cliff is not resolved.

 

“We have a shortage of healthcare professionals in America, especially primary care physicians,” says Hartley. “It’s important to maintain teaching health center programs throughout the nation. They are training our next generation of professionals and this is a program that we think is essential for the continued and superior provision of healthcare services in America.”

 

Closing any community health center simply cannot be an option, stresses Hartley. If any center closes, the people in the community will go to the closest hospital emergency room for care.

 

“If that happens, it will be at a greater cost than what we provide in our community health centers,” says Hartley. “People who receive their routine care in community health centers have a lower overall cost of healthcare because they use emergency rooms less and go to the hospital less.”

 

Hartley urges members of the community to call on their Congressman and other legislators to try to gain support for the continued funding of community health centers.

 

“I’m hopeful that there will be a positive outcome and when the dust is finally settled at the Congressional level, we will have an extension of the funding for community health centers,” he says. “I still believe people of goodwill will not allow for the closure of community health centers in this country.”