Federal Update
Below is a selection of recent health policy and regulatory news and information relevant to health centers and PCAs. For regular updates, subscribe to Capital Link’s blog, or access NACHC’s blog and the HRSA’s health center webpage.
Congress Works to Prevent Government Shutdown and Extend CHC Funding
The House passed a continuing resolution to keep the federal government open through November 21. The short-term spending bill passed by the House of Representatives also extends funding for the Community Health Center Fund, National Health Service Corps, and Teaching Health Center program through November 21. The roughly two-month extension now awaits a vote in the Senate later this week before heading to the President’s desk to be signed into law. Click here to read more about Congress’ effort to extend key mandatory and discretionary funding for health centers through November.
New Access Points Awardees Announced by HRSA
HRSA awarded more than $50 million to fund 77 health centers across 23 states, Puerto Rico, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. New Access Points (NAP) funding provides operational support for new organizations to become Health Center Program grantees and for existing health centers to establish new service delivery sites.
HHS Awards $107 Million to Support Health Center Quality Improvement
HHS announced nearly $107 million in Quality Improvement Awards (QIAs) to 1,273 health centers across all U.S. states, territories, and the District of Columbia. Have questions about your QIAs? Visit the QIAs webpage to learn more about fiscal year (FY) 2019 award categories and criteria.
Service Area Competition Notice of Funding Opportunity Released for May 1 Starts
HRSA released the FY2020 Service Area Competition (SAC) Notice of Funding Opportunity, HRSA-20-019, for service areas with a May 1, 2020, project period start date (current project period end date is April 30, 2020). Current award recipients should refer to box 6 of the most recent Notice of Award to obtain their project period end date. Applications are due in Grants.gov by 11:59 p.m. ET on Monday, October 21, and in HRSA’s Electronic Handbooks (EHBs) by 5:00 p.m. ET on Wednesday, November 20. Technical assistance (TA) materials are available on the SAC TA webpage.
HHS Awards over $85 Million to Help Health Centers Expand Access to Oral Health Care
HRSA awarded over $85 million to 298 health centers to expand their oral health service capacity through new infrastructure enhancements. These investments are the first by HRSA to solely focus on oral health infrastructure and will enable HRSA-funded health centers to provide new, or enhance existing, oral health services. View the awards here.
USDA Announces Nearly $12 Million in Funding to Improve Public Facilities in 17 States, Benefiting More Than 200,000 Rural Americans
USDA Rural Housing Service Administrator Bruce W. Lammers announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is investing almost $12 million in 41 community facilities projects that will benefit 214,000 Americans (PDF, 134 KB) in rural communities in 17 states. View the Community Facilities Direct Loan Program Guidance Book for Applicants here.
Notice of Allocation Availability for 2019 NMTC Program Released
On September 4th, the US Department of the Treasury's Community Development Financial Institutions Fund released a Notice of Allocation Availability for the calendar year 2019 New Markets Tax Credit Program. $3.5 billion in tax credit allocation authority is available in this round. The application deadline is October 28, 2019. Certified Community Development Entities will be applying and are seeking eligible projects for their pipelines. Health centers that are interesting in obtaining NMTC financing should contact Jonathan Chapman (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) as soon as possible.