CHSD Online

HRSA Announces Eligibility Criteria for Sites Recruiting National Health Service Corps Scholars

Click on the link below for more info and links to the searchable database.

CHC Grants are Available under Area Competition  

• Program: Community health center/service area competition (CFDA 93.224).
• Agency: Health Resources and Services Admin., Dept. of Health and Human Services.
• Eligibility:  Public or nonprofit private entities, including tribal, faith-based, and community-based organizations; and proposing to serve a service area and its associated population(s) identified in the Service Area Announcement Table available at http://www.hrsa.gov/grants/apply/assistance/sac. Basically, current grantees whose grants end Oct. 1,  2012, and those  who want to provide services to new areas are among those  who can apply, as can a health centers not currently funded through the Health Center Program that seek to serve an entire announced service area.
• Funding: Total, 450 million dollars for 230 grants.
• Deadline: Varies by start-date of services/area.

• Realize that  you  need  to keep increases in the cost per individual relatively low; on the national level, centers have kept costs at least 20 percent below national per capita healthcare cost increases,
• In its budget requests, HRSA calls on centers to realize success in achieving cost-effectiveness by using multi- and interdisciplinary team that treats the "whole patient." "This, in turn, is associated with the delivery of high quality, culturally competent and comprehensive primary and healthcare services that not only increases access and reduces health disparities, but promotes more effective care for Health Center patients with chronic conditions."
• Realize that you're going to have to do more to evaluate CHC program success. Luckily, there are a whole host of evaluation studies and research institutions that have conducted such research, as has the National Association of Community Health Centers. One interesting project was done by MHPI, which was contracted by HRSA to collect, standardize, and analyze patient data from 64 community health centers located throughout the United States (representing nearly 1.6 million patients annually), and produce annual reports illustrating the network's overall performance as well as individual center reports for each participating center. More information is available at http://www.mphi.org/mobis.aspx
• Be aware earlier FY 2011 CHC funding competitions were quite competitive; Recovery Act funding for new centers produced "the greatest number of applications ever," according to HRSA Administrator Mary Wakefield, and the planning grant competition ended up awarding 125 grants out of 300 proposals.