FAQ

Answers to Frequently Asked Questions About OPCA

Community Health Centers offer a ‘Health Care Home’ for Oklahomans

·     Presidential Initiatives to Expand Health Centers, Since FY 2001
           - Double the number of patients seen in health centers
           - Increase the number of CHCs from 3,200 to 4,400 nationwide
           - Initiatives has strong bipartisan support
           - CHCs have received funding increases while other programs were being cut

·     History of Community Health Centers (CHC)
      - Began in1966 as part of President Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society Program
         (at same time as Head Start)
      - In existence for over 35 years

·     Core Elements of Section 330
           - Federal resources targeted to communities with highest needs
           - Services must be available for all regardless of ability to pay particularly those with major financial, social,
                   cultural, and language barriers
           - Services must include comprehensive preventive/primary care, enabling and health education
           - CHCs directed by governing board of which 51% are patients of the center

·     CHCs…
           - are Public-Private partnerships
           - must meet local health needs as determined by the community
           - must meet national performance standards for high quality care
           - depend on outside funds from Medicare, Medicaid, state and local governments, private insurance, and
                  patient fees
           - qualify to receive enhanced reimbursement under Medicare and Medicaid with Federally Qualified Health
                  Center (FQHC) status

·     How do communities receive CHC funding?
           - Competitive grant process under Section 330 Public Health Service (PHS) Act
           - Grant funds are not ‘seed money’
           - Receive ongoing support based on productivity

· CHCs in Oklahoma prior to president’s 5 year initiative
4 grantees
2 homeless centers

·     CHCs in Oklahoma
            - Thirteen grantees in Oklahoma
            - Twenty-six total sites including two homeless centers

· CHCs are economic engines for their communities
- Nationally over $14 billion in economic activity is generated by health centers
- Nationwide over 50,000 people are employed

For more information about the CHC program and 330 grant funding, please call Oklahoma Primary Care Association at (405) 424-2282. Ext. 104 or 113 or visit the website at www.okpca.org.