For some background, it’s important that you understand that Section 4101(a) the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act appropriated $200 million over the next four years for construction and equipment for new and existing SBHCs. We’re very grateful to our Congressional champions for making that happen, since the $200 million will make a big difference in the lives of youth everywhere. I attended two terrific Advocacy Day meetings earlier in the day with a few high school seniors and recent graduates from high schools in Maine, and they made the case of what can happen with that funding – and what else can be accomplished if Congress appropriates an additional $50 million for the operation of SBHCs as authorized under section 4101(b).
Jim Macrae is the Associate Administrator for Primary Health Care in the Health Resources Services Administration (HRSA). As the head of the Bureau of Primary Health Care (BPHC), he is in charge of drafting the regulations that will specify how the $200 million appropriation for construction and equipment. He told a packed ballroom that the regulations are in the draft stage, and will be published in roughly one month.
As soon as the regulations are available we’ll convene phone calls to alert the field of the availability of the funds, and some assistance on how to structure the request for your center’s share of these competitive grants. Mr. Macrae also said that BPHC plans on holding its own phone calls with interested stakeholders to answer questions that remain after the regulations are published.
So stay tuned to our website. And become a member of NASBHC to become the first to know when the regulations are published.
Josh Rovner, Director of Policy and Advocacy
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