HHS invests $60 million to expand hours at community health centers

Key takeaways:

• New HHS funding will add an additional 20 hours of operation a week at some community health centers.
• The expanded hours will be critical for certain patients, like those who are uninsured or underinsured.

The Health Resources and Services Administration announced $60 million in funding to expand the hours of operation for 125 community health centers and improve access to health care services.

The community health centers — which serve almost 4.2 million people — will add an average of 20 hours of operation a week to support the administrative and clinical staff needed for additional early morning, night and weekend hours, according to an HHS press release.

“This is what expanding access to health care looks like,” Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Administrator Carole Johnson told Healio. “Our health centers for a long time have tried to expand access and be available more frequently for folks, but they haven't always had the resources to do it.”

The HRSA noted that because the community health centers provide care regardless of a person’s ability to pay, the investment will be particularly critical for people who are uninsured, underinsured or have Medicaid coverage and who have trouble finding affordable care outside of traditional hours and cannot afford visits to retail clinics, EDs or urgent care.

The administration added that the funding will also help to relieve frequent challenges faced by health center patients and connect them to preventive services and resources for health-related social needs.

“Whenever you improve access to care for people, we get higher quality outcomes for health care,” Johnson told Healio. “It gives families an opportunity to get [help for] their child who's experiencing asthma-like symptoms but hasn't been able to get to an appointment. It gets families the opportunity to take their grandfather, who has been experiencing some sluggishness, to get that diabetes diagnosis and get on the right treatment path.”

The funding is one of the multiple recent efforts made by the HRSA to improve health care provided by community health centers. Last year, the administration invested $240 million to launch and expand mental health and substance use disorder services at 400 of these clinics.

Johnson noted that the changes brought on by the investment are expected to ramp up in early 2025.

“Our hope is that it will have a dramatic impact on health outcomes in these communities where we're able to make these awards, and then that will continue to build the support and demonstrate the need for expanding these kinds of resources to help more and more health centers across the country,” she said.