The awardees are currently serving approximately 790,000 patients. Today’s awards will enable them to increase their capacity by over 50-percent, serving an additional 440,000 patients. School-based health centers improve the overall health and wellness of all children through health screenings, health promotion and disease prevention activities and enable children with acute or chronic illnesses to attend school. A full list of grantees is available at www.hhs.gov/news/press/2011pres/07/20110714grantee.html.
“These new investments will help school-based health centers establish new sites or upgrade their current facilities to keep our children healthy,” said Secretary Sebelius. “These new or improved sites will help ensure effective, efficient, and high-quality care.”
“We know that if kids aren’t healthy then kids can’t learn,” said Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. “These grants will make it a lot easier for working moms and dads to help get their children the health care they need and deserve. This unprecedented investment in school-based health care will bring communities closer together and help children succeed in the classroom.”
The Affordable Care Act appropriated a total of $200 million for 2010 through 2013 for the School-Based Health Center Capital Program to address capital needs in school-based health centers. The funds announced today are the first in the series of awards that will be made available to school-based health centers under the Affordable Care Act. The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) oversees the program.
“Healthy children are better able to learn and succeed in school,” said HRSA Administrator Mary K. Wakefield, Ph.D., R.N. “These grants will improve access to care for children, and help maximize their potential to learn.”
Eligible applicants were defined as a school-based health center or a sponsoring facility of a school-based health center as outlined in the Social Security Act. An objective review committee used the review criteria established in the grant guidance to assess and rank applications. Each reviewer on the objective review committee is screened to avoid conflicts of interest and is responsible for providing an objective, unbiased evaluation based on the review criteria.
To learn more about the Affordable Care Act, visit www.healthcare.gov. To learn more about HRSA’s School –Based Health Center Capital Program, visit www.hrsa.gov/ourstories/schoolhealthcenters/
The Health Resources and Services Administration is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. HRSA is the primary Federal agency responsible for improving access to health care services for people who are uninsured, isolated, or medically vulnerable. For more information about HRSA and its programs, visit www.hrsa.gov.
Note: All HHS press releases, fact sheets and other press materials are available at http://www.hhs.gov/news.
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