Beverly Grossman, Senior Policy Director of the Community Health Care Association of New York State (CHCANYS), www.chcanys.org, responded to the Governor of New York Andrew M. Cuomo’s www.governor.ny.gov recent FY 2015-2016 budget request.
CHCANYS, the State’s Primary Care Association for Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC) www.hrsa.gov is the voice for community health centers located in medically underserved areas and works closely with more than 60 FQHCs that operate in over 600 sites across the state serving 1.7 million New Yorkers annually.
As Grossman explained, “FQHCs provide high quality cost effective primary care to anyone seeking care and is governed by a consumer-majority board of directors to identify and prioritize the services most needed by communities. Also, one quarter of New York’s FQHC patients are served in languages other than English and three fourths of the patients receiving care are racial and/or ethnic minorities.”
She stated, “The FQHC community is not in agreement with the Governor’s budget proposal with the allocation of $1.4 billion in capital funding. CHCANYS is requesting that a minimum of 25 percent of the $1.4 billion or $350 million in capital funding be allocated for community-based safety net care providers statewide including FQHCs.”
School-Based Health Centers (SBHC) www.bphc.hrsa.gov many sponsored by FQHCs are needed for many children across the state for both oral and behavioral health. SBHCs have already seen a $3.2 million reduction in state aid and the loss of eight sites since 2008. The problem is that during this same period the number of students served at FQHC sponsored SBHC increased by 67 percent.
The budget request proposes consolidating 40 programs including SBHCs into five block grants and reduce the total available funding by 15 percent. This proposal would require SBHCs to compete for funding with ten other block grant programs and could result in a significant loss of funding for 2015. CHCANYS wants to restore SBHC funding to the FY 2014-2015 level of $21.2 million.
CHCANYS urges the legislature to commit to a diverse and strong primary care workforce and continue with programs like the Primary Care Service Corps (PCSC) www.health.ny.gov and Doctors Across New York (DANY) www.health.ny.gov to advance the recruitment and retention of primary care providers.
According to Grossman, DANY funding should be increased in the state to allow awards for at least 150 physicians per year, provide for loan repayment at a first year cost of $5.25 million in 2015-2016, plus support state budget funding for PCSC to help in underserved parts of the state.
CHCANYS also wants to see the new Vital Access Provider (VAP) program www.hanys.org helping essential community providers in rural and isolated areas receive the $290 million proposed for the program.
CHCANYS also urges the legislature to maintain current reimbursement for 340B drugs, maintain funding for the Diagnostic & Treatment Center Uncompensated Care Pool www.chcanys.org, maintain funding for health services for migrant and seasonal farm workers, and ensure continuity of care within urgent and retail clinics.