Community Health Center to Receive $2M to Increase Health Care Access for Underserved Patients

Middletown-based Community Health Center (CHC), with locations across Connecticut, will receive $2 million from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), to increase health care access and quality for underserved patients through virtual care such as telehealth, remote patient monitoring, digital patient tools and health information technology platforms.

CHC will use the award to build upon its experience delivering clinical care virtually during the pandemic, with a primary focus on its patient population with diagnosed behavioral health disorders. This includes expanding CHC’s model of school-based virtual behavioral health care during the COVID crisis to all schools in which CHC provides school-based care. CHC also plans to focus on the homeless population in shelters, transitional housing, and COVID temporary hotel housing to test virtual care as an on-going fundamental care strategy for homeless and transient populations.

Community Health Center, Inc. is Connecticut’s largest health center, serving more than 150,000 patients statewide.

“We are grateful to HHS and HRSA for recognizing the need to deliver care in new ways to the populations who need it most – those served by Community Health Center, Inc. and our peers across the country,” said Mark Masselli, CHC President/CEO “This award will allow us to expand a dynamic new model of care, combining in-person and virtual care into a single, holistic approach prioritizing the needs and preferences of our patients.”

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), awarded nearly $55 million to 29 HRSA-funded health centers to increase health care access and quality for underserved populations through virtual care such as telehealth, remote patient monitoring, digital patient tools, and health information technology platforms.

This funding builds on over $7.3 billion in American Rescue Plan funding invested in community health centers over the past year to help mitigate the impact of COVID-19.

“Virtual care has been a game-changer for patients, especially during the pandemic,” said HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra. “This funding will help health centers leverage the latest technology and innovations to expand access to quality primary care for underserved communities. Today’s announcement reflects the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to advancing health equity and putting essential health care within reach for all Americans.” 

The use of telemedicine by CHC pre-dated the pandemic.  Last month, CHC and its Weitzman Institute celebrated ten years of leading Project ECHO sessions, producing more than 1500 ECHO sessions for over 7,500 providers from every state in the nation, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and Guam. Project ECHO, from the outset, has uses teleconferencing and case-based learning to expand access to specialty care for underserved patients by helping primary care teams manage cases that would otherwise be referred out to specialists. Topic areas have included Hepatitis C, HIV, Pain, Buprenorphine, LGBT Health, Complex Integrated Pediatrics, and COVID.  Additional topics are planned for later this year.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, health centers nationwide have quickly expanded their use of virtual care to maintain access to essential primary care services. They reported significant growth in the number of virtual visits from 478,333 in 2019 to 28,550,608 in 2020, a remarkable 6,000 percent increase, according to HRSA. In total, the number of health centers offering virtual visits grew from 592 in 2019 to 1,362 in 2022, an increase of 130 percent. These new awards will enable health centers to sustain an expanded level of virtual care and identify and implement new digital strategies, officials pointed out. 

“Today’s awards will help ensure that new ways to deliver primary care are reaching the communities that need it most,” said HRSA Administrator Carole Johnson. “Our funding will help health centers continue to expand their virtual work while maintaining their vital in-person services in communities across the country.”

HRSA noted that the more than 1,400 HRSA-supported health centers in this country serve as a national source of primary care for our at-risk communities. They are community-based and patient-directed organizations that deliver affordable, accessible, and high-quality medical, dental, and behavioral health services to nearly 29 million patients each year.

As of late January, overall health centers have delivered over 19.2 million vaccine doses, with 68 percent going to racial or ethnic minority patients. More than 90 percent of health center patients are individuals or families living at or below 200 percent of the Federal Poverty Guidelines (about $55,000 per year for a family of four in most states) and approximately 62 percent are racial/ethnic minorities, according to data provided by the Department of Health and Human Services.