With an end-of-the-year funding cliff approaching, the Primary Care Collaborative joined with over 550 organizations to urge congressional reauthorization of the Community Health Center Fund (CHCF) in a September 18th letter.
The CHCF supports community health centers including Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs as well as the National Health Service Corps’ loan forgiveness and scholarship programs.
As noted in past PCC research (here and here), these centers are an important source of primary and preventative health care services for medically underserved communities. Community health centers increase access to care by reducing barriers such as cost, insurance status, and proximity to a practice site for their patient populations.
PCC supports multi-year, robust funding for the CHCF. This funding will go directly towards serving:
- The over 31 million patients served in 2023
- 1 in 8 children across the United States
- The 9.7 million patients in rural setting
To learn more about PCC’s broader agenda for the nation’s rural and underserved communities, see this 2023 letter to the House Ways and Means Committee.