July 16, 2017

Duckworth, Durbin Announce Over $24 Million for Community Health Centers Across Illinois

 

[CHICAGO, IL] - Today, U.S. Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) announced that the Department of Health and Human Services has awarded a total of $24,562,393.00 to support local community health centers throughout Illinois. Community health centers are community-based organizations that improve access to affordable, high-quality health care in underserved urban and rural communities by integrating primary health care with pharmacy, mental health, substance abuse, and oral health services.

"Children, families and seniors across Illinois rely on community health clinics for essential healthcare services," said Duckworth. "This funding will enable these clinics to continue providing quality, affordable care to thousands of Illinois families, which is crucial to the overall strength of our state."

"Community health centers provide high-quality, comprehensive medical care for more than one million Illinoisans every year. This investment will help these centers continue to improve health outcomes and reduce patient costs for Illinoisans, many in rural and under-served areas" said Durbin. "But make no mistake, community health centers will take a devastating hit if Republicans in Congress repeal our health law. In Illinois, 60 percent of health center patients are covered by Medicaid, and yet, both the House and Senate repeal bills would decimate the Medicaid program and rip health care away from 650,000 Illinoisans."

The following Illinois community health centers will receive funding under this announcement:

· Lake County Health Department (Waukegan, IL): $2,287,733.00
· Heartland International Health Center (Chicago, IL): $2,705,903.00
· Greater Elgin Family Care Center (Elgin, IL): $3,078,663.00
· Will County Health Department (Joliet, IL): $1,130,734.00
· Aunt Martha's Youth Service Center Inc. (Olympia Fields, IL): $8,675,175.00
· Heartland Community Health Clinic (Peoria, IL): $1,272,764.00
· Cass County Health Department (Virginia, IL): $1,007,735.00
· Centro de Salud y Esperanza (Chicago, IL): $1,510,403.00
· Chestnut Health Systems (Bloomington, IL): $1,822,467.00
· Knox Community Health Center (Galesburg, IL): $1,070,816.00

Illinois community health centers currently provide primary health care services to approximately 1.3 million Illinois residents - including one out of every four Medicaid patients - at 51 health centers with 360 treatment sites in medically underserved areas throughout the state. Illinois community health centers employ over 7,600 individuals, equaling a payroll of more than $508 million. They also inject approximately $800 million in operating expenditures into their communities, resulting in an overall economic impact of $1.48 billion and overall employment of 11,700. A recent study found that Illinois community health centers save 27 percent in total spending per Medicaid patient compared to non-health center providers.

Over its 50 year history, the Health Center Program has grown from two community health centers to nearly 1,400 community health centers operating over 9,800 clinic sites in every U.S. state and territory. In 2015, community health centers employed nearly 190,000 people and served over 24 million patients. One in 13 people nationwide rely on a HRSA-funded community health center for their preventive and primary health care needs.