HHS ANNOUNCES $22 MILLION IN NEW GRANTS TO IMPROVE SERVICES TO UNINSURED AMERICANS

HHS Secretary Donna E. Shalala announced today that 23 local networks of health care providers, hospitals, community health centers and local governments have been awarded about $22 million under a new federal program designed to improve access to health care for uninsured Americans.

The Community Access Program (CAP) grants will help grantees in 22 states build integrated health care systems among local partner organizations, all of which are committed to expanding health services to uninsured individuals.

"This grant program's goal is to assure that more uninsured people receive needed care, that the care received is of higher quality, and that the uninsured are served by providers who participate in accountable health systems," said Secretary Shalala.

The integrated systems will link all levels of care, including primary health care, mental health services, substance abuse counseling, and dental and pharmacy assistance. Grant amounts vary in size, based on the scope of the project and the size of the service area.

Interest in the competitive CAP grants was strong. The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), an HHS agency, received more than 2,300 requests for application kits and 207 applications for the 23 available grants. Funding requests came in from 44 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

"The huge number of applications reflects the importance of the administration's efforts in trying to bring access to health care to people who need it in communities across the country," said Secretary Shalala. "This funding is the first installment for what is intended to be a $1 billion initiative over five years and that will ultimately reach approximately 100 communities."

CAP grant recipients will use the funds to create and expand collaboration among local partners through such strategies as management information systems, referral networks, care coordination and enrollment processes. This year's grants will bolster efforts at sites that have already begun organizing community-based coalitions to coordinate services to the uninsured.

"The grantees have developed strategies that rely on local resources to build and strengthen integrated health care delivery systems," said HRSA Administrator Claude Earl Fox, M.D., M.P.H. "These are federal grants, but the design of each grantee's health care network and its implementation are locally driven."

All of the grant applications targeted access to health care to uninsured persons. Because racial and ethnic minorities in most communities are more likely than non-minorities to be uninsured, CAP grants support the federal government's goal - as stated in the Healthy People 2010 document released by the Secretary last January -- to eliminate disparities in health status among all groups by 2010.

President Clinton's budget request for fiscal year 2001 calls for $125 million for CAP, five times the program's fiscal year 2000 operating budget. If approved, some of that money would be used to fund many of the more than 50 additional applications that were approved in the current grant cycle but not funded due to budget limitations. Fiscal year 2001 money would also be used to fund additional applicants who are approved in a new competition.

For more information on the Community Access Program, call 301-443-0536 or go to the program office Web site at: http://www.hrsa.gov/cap. Below is the list of CAP grantees.

Community Health Council, Manhattan, Kan. 716,000 Inc.

Community Foundation of Yarmouthport, Mass. 861,671 Cape Cod

St. Johns Health Systems Detroit, Mich. 900,000

Hennepin County Medical Minneapolis, Minn. 899,714 Center

Aaron E. Henry Community Clarksdale, Miss. 967,459
Health Center

Sangre de Cristo Community El Rito, N.M. 1,224,000
Health Partnership

New York City Health and New York, N.Y. 1,366,610
Hospitals

North Carolina Department Raleigh, N.C. 897,465
of Health and Human
Services

Cincinnati Health Network, Cincinnati, Ohio 899,590 Inc.

###

Note: For other HHS Press Releases and Fact Sheets pertaining to the subject of this announcement, please visit our Press Release and Fact Sheet search engine at: http://www.hhs.gov/search/press.html.