Alabama community health centers receive $4M in critical opioid treatment grants
Community health centers across the state are receiving federal grants to support increased treatment and prevention for opioid and substance abuse. Sen. Richard Shelby made the announcement Thursday that 15 centers would receive a total of $4,038,000 in federal grant funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). “It is of the utmost importance that we work to fund the fight against the national opioid crisis,” said Shelby. “Nearly every county in Alabama is affected by this growing problem. These HHS grants will allow community health centers across the state to provide treatment to patients with opioid and substance abuse and support addiction prevention programs, helping our communities tackle this widespread epidemic.” These grants will impact community health centers in the following areas of the state: Bayou La Batre, Birmingham, Centreville, Gadsden, Huntsville, Mobile, Montgomery, Parrish, Selma, Scottsboro, Troy, and Tuscaloosa. On September 19, HHS awarded nearly $352 million to 1,232 community health centers across the nation, including the 15 in Alabama, through the Expanding Access to Quality Substance Use Disorder and Mental Health Services (SUD-MH) awards. The SUD-MH awards support health centers in implementing and advancing evidence-based strategies that best meet the substance use disorder and mental health needs of the populations they serve. The following 15 community health centers in Alabama will receive $4,038,000 in grant funding: Bayou La Batre Area Health Development Board, Inc., Bayou La Batre – $285,000 Christ Health Center, Inc., Birmingham – $285,000 Alabama Regional Medical Services, Birmingham – $285,000 Aletheia House, Inc., Birmingham – $201,750 Cahaba Medical Care Foundation, Centreville – $296,000 Quality of Life Services, Inc., Gadsden – $293,000 Central North Alabama Health, Huntsville – $285,000 Health Services, Inc., Montgomery – $285,000 Franklin Primary Health Center, Inc., Mobile – $285,000 Mobile County Health Department, Mobile – $285,000 Capstone Rural Health Center, Parrish – $287,250 Rural Health Medical Program, Inc., Selma – $285,000 Northeast Alabama Health Services, Inc., Scottsboro – $110,000 S.E. Alabama Rural Health Associates, Troy – $285,000 Whatley Health Services, Inc., Tuscaloosa – $285,000
Doug Jones weighs in on long-term, bipartisan Senate budget compromise
The cycle of budgetary showdowns may soon be a a thing of a the past — Senate leaders struck a long-term, bipartisan agreement on Wednesday that would lift strict budget caps on defense and domestic spending, imposed during sequestration. The budget compromise also invests additional resources to tackle the opioid crisis and closes loopholes in the law that will reduce drug prices for seniors. Alabama’s newly elected Senator, Democrat Doug Jones called the deal “a very encouraging step forward.” “After months of careening from one short-term budget to another, this long-term compromise reached in the Senate today is a very encouraging step forward,” Jones said in a statement. “It funds important health care priorities for Alabama, including renewed investment in our vital Community Health Centers. It also provides an additional four years of funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program, bringing the total funding commitment to 10 years.” Jones continued, “This bipartisan agreement also paves the way for Congress to consider long-term funding for our military, which will give our Defense Department leadership the certainty that it needs. This is a big step in the right direction. I encourage my colleagues in the House to support this robust bipartisan bill so we can get back to working on the many other important policy challenges we face.” Earlier this week, Jones joined a bipartisan group of senators to to call on Senate leadership to extend community health center funding. On Tuesday, he met with the Alabama Primary Health Care Association to listen to their concerns about how a lapse in funding would impact the roughly 350,000 Alabamians who rely on community health centers to access care. As a result of this deal, the Senate is also poised to reject a House Defense funding bill that does not support important Alabama projects, and will instead take steps this week toward passing an alternative bill that Jones says “better serves Alabama’s military communities and strengthens the United States military overall.”
Doug Jones calls on Senate Leadership to fund community health centers
Alabama-Democrat, U.S. Senator Doug Jones signed a bipartisan letter on Monday calling on U.S. Senate leadership to quickly reauthorize funds critical to community health centers as part of a short-term spending bill expected to pass this week. Funding for the Community Health Center Fund (CHCF) expired on September 30, 2017. Without an extension, community health centers stand to lose 70 percent of their funding, resulting in an estimated 2,800 site closures, 50,000 jobs lost, and nine million Americans losing access to healthcare nationwide. These centers service millions of the nation’s most vulnerable — one out of every 12 Americans — including 350,000 Alabamians. “Congress needs to work together and immediately extend funding for our community health centers,” said Jones. “The sixteen centers in our state often serve as the only place for 350,000 Alabamians to access critical health care. Failing to act immediately would threaten the livelihood of some of our most at-risk residents like seniors, veterans, and children. I’m proud to take this step to ensure that leadership does right by the people of Alabama, and Congress finally gives our health care providers the resources they need to continue serving our communities.” In addition to Jones, the senators who signed on to the letter include: Tammy Baldwin (Wis.) Michael Bennet (Colo.) Richard Blumenthal (Conn.) Roy Blunt (Mo.) Cory Booker (N.J.) John Boozman (Ark.) Sherrod Brown (Ohio) Maria Cantwell (Wash.) Shelley Moore Capito (W.Va.) Ben Cardin (Md.) Tom Carper (Del.) Bob Casey (Pa.) Bill Cassidy (La.) Thad Cochran (Miss.) Christopher Coons (Del.) Catherine Cortez Masto (Nev.) Mike Crapo (Idaho) Steve Daines (Mont.) Joe Donnelly (Ind.) Tammy Duckworth (Ill.) Dick Durbin (Ill.) Joni Ernst (Iowa) Dianne Feinstein (Calif.) Deb Fischer (Neb.) Cory Gardner (Colo.) Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.) Kamala Harris (Calif.) Maggie Hassan (N.H.) Martin Heinrich (N.M.) Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.) Dean Heller (Nev.) Mazie Hirono (Hawaii) John Hoeven (N.D.) James Inhofe (Okla.) Johnny Isakson (Ga.) Tim Kaine (Va.) John Kennedy (La.) Angus King (Maine) Amy Klobuchar (Minn.) Patrick Leahy (Vt.) Joe Manchin (W.Va.) Ed Markey (Mass.) Claire McCaskill (Mo.) Robert Menendez (N.J.) Jeff Merkley (Ore.) Jerry Moran (Kan.) Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) Chris Murphy (Conn.) Bill Nelson (Fla.) Gary Peters (Mich.) Rob Portman (Ohio) Jack Reed (R.I.) James Risch (Idaho) Bernie Sanders (Vt.) Brian Schatz (Hawaii) Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.) Tina Smith (Minn.) Debbie Stabenow (Mich.) Jon Tester (Mont.) Thom Tillis (N.C.) Tom Udall (N.M.) Chris Van Hollen (Md.) Mark Warner (Va.) Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.) Roger Wicker (Miss.) Read the full letter below: Dear Leader McConnell and Minority Leader Schumer: We write to express our concern over funding for community health centers, which expired on September 30, 2017. We strongly urge you to reauthorize this funding immediately. Community health centers serve a vital function, providing affordable health care to our nation’s most vulnerable citizens. They provide quality medical, dental, vision and behavioral health care to more than 27 million patients, including 330,000 of our nation’s veterans and 8 million children, at over 10,000 sites nationwide. By offering preventative care, treating chronic conditions, and working to fight the opioid epidemic, community health centers are not only greatly improving the health and well-being of those they serve, they are also saving significant taxpayer dollars. Without extension of the Community Health Center Fund (CHCF), community health centers will lose seventy percent of their funding. This will result in an estimated 2,800 site closures, the loss of 50,000 jobs, and approximately 9 million Americans losing access to their health care. Moreover, community health centers operate as small businesses and require a level of predictability to operate and respond to the needs of their communities. Since the expiration of the CHCF, community health centers have not been able to adequately plan for everything from staffing needs to securing loans for capital projects. In addition, the expiration of the National Health Service Corps and Teaching Health Centers Graduate Medical Education program threatens the ability of health centers to meet their workforce needs. For more than fifty years, community health centers have experienced strong bipartisan support. In fact, twenty bipartisan senators cosponsor legislation which reauthorizes funding not only for community health centers but also for the National Health Service Corps. We look forward to working with you to reach a bipartisan agreement to fund the community health center program and enable our community health centers to continue providing high quality and affordable care to those in need.
