Bullhook Community Center on Capitol Hill advocating for more funding

Staff from the Bullhook Community Health Center are in Washington this week to advocate “for the continuation of Community Health Center funding for all CHCs,” Bullhook CEO Kyndra Hall said.

Long-term funding would allow Bullhook to “plan for the future, recruit staff, expand services for patients and reduce the uncertainty caused by year-to-year renewals,” Hall explained

Federally funded health centers are designed to help people who can’t afford specialized health care, as well as serve the vulnerable populations, although they are open for everyone.

According to the National Association of Community Health Centers website, health centers add more than $54 billion in total economic activity each year and employ over 220,000 people nationally. Every federal dollar invested in health centers generates more than $5 in economic activity.

Despite their positive impact on the community, health centers face obstacles in providing services, partly because of insufficient funding.

Despite having access to health care, uninsured federally qualified health center patients still struggle to obtain specialty and mental health services that may not be offered at the clinics. Grant funding provides a means through which the health centers can address some of these obstacles.

Funding for CHCs comes from two sources: $1.63 billion in annual discretionary appropriations and $4 billion in the CHC Fund. The CHC Fund is set to expire Sept. 30 if not approved by Congress.

James Luisi, chief executive of NEW Health in Boston’s North End and board chair for the National Association of Community Health Centers, said he wants Congress to approve the Community Health Investment, Modernization and Excellence Act, which would approve funding in five-year blocks.

“We want that funding extended, hopefully for at least another five years,” he said, “so that we can have some stable funding and so that health centers will be able to access capital and meet their needs without worrying about going back and advocating for that funding to be extended again.”