Community Health Centers to Get Funding for Coronavirus Outbreak

UPDATE 03/06/2020: HR 6074 became public law no: 116-123 on March 6, 2020.

The federal government is one step closer to delivering funds to key stakeholders in the novel coronavirus outbreak, including community health centers.

Yesterday, the House passed an $8.3 billion spending package bill to “fully fund a robust response to coronavirus, including vaccine development, support for state and local governments, and assistance for affected small businesses.”

The bill (HR 6074) would notably allocate $100 million to community health centers to support smaller health clinics in under-served urban and rural areas combat the novel coronavirus outbreak.

The bill comes a week after the American Hospital Association (AHA) and the American Nurses Association (ANA) called on policymakers to provide supplemental emergency funding directly to frontline providers, including hospitals, health systems, physicians, and nurses.

“We respectfully ask that Congress provide initial supplemental emergency funding of $1 billion during this critical window of time when we are able to best prepare and respond to this outbreak, recognizing that additional supplemental funding may be necessary as the situation evolves,” the organizations wrote in the Feb. 27 letter to national leaders.

As of March 4, there are over 93,000 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus, otherwise known as COVID-19, worldwide, including 80 cases in the US. That number does not include persons repatriated to the US from Wuhan, China, and Japan, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The US reported its first death from the virus earlier this month. Since then, the death toll in the US has risen to 9 individuals, with more deaths attributable to the novel coronavirus outbreak expected to come.

The House spending package would provide billions of dollars to several agencies to support preparedness and response. The bill includes:

• $950 million to support states, localities, territories, and tribes to conduct public health activities, including surveillance, laboratory testing, contract tracing, and infection control
• More than $3 billion for research and development of vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics
• $500 million for procurement of pharmaceuticals, masks, personal protective equipment (PPE), and other medical supplies, which can be distributed to state and local health agencies
• $10 million for worker-based training through the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences to prevent and reduce exposure of hospital employees, emergency first responders, and other workers who are at risk of exposure to coronavirus

In the bill, House lawmakers also included provisions that would enable HHS to waive Medicare restrictions on telehealth use during the coronavirus public health emergency.

Healthcare providers have expressed concerns about their capacity to handle the novel coronavirus outbreak.

“Many PPE supplies are heavily backordered and global shortages exist for specific products such as N95 masks,” said David A. Hargraves, Premier’s senior vice president of supply chain services. Hargraves’ company found that 86 percent of health systems are concerned about shortages of personal protective equipment, including gowns, gloves, face shields, and face masks.

“So far, our members, with our support, have been able to work with manufacturers and distributors to mitigate many issues. But supply is unquestionably strained and health systems are going to extraordinary lengths to provide essential healthcare for their communities,” he continued.

The AHA and ANA also stressed to policymakers that frontline providers are in need of financial support for preparedness and response activities, such as training staff, obtaining scarce supplies, creating separate areas for screening, and providing housing and care to patients who must be isolated.

Community health centers will play a major role in the coronavirus outbreak response, added the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC).

“Community Health Centers are the most direct connection from critical federal programs like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Main Street,” Ronald Yee, MD, the association’s chief medical officer, said in a Feb. 3 statement.

Federal officials have relied on community health centers – which have a presence in nearly every community in the US – to respond to public health challenges such as the coronavirus outbreak. But the facilities face an additional challenge of operating under a temporary funding measure, NACHC explained.

The funding provided by the House’s spending package is a step in the right direction for frontline providers, said Chip Kahn, president and CEO of the Federation of American Hospitals (FAH).

“This bill will provide essential assistance to caregivers and communities on the front lines of this battle,” he stated on FAH website. “Hospitals are often the first line of defense in local communities across the country. Our patients depend on us and this funding will help us with ‘job one,’ providing critical health care to our patients and assisting in keeping Americans healthy and safe.”

In addition to potential funding, HHS and CMS also released new policies and protocols for dealing with the novel coronavirus outbreak. HHS on March 4 announced initial funding to jurisdictions supporting coronavirus response, including $25 million to states and local jurisdictions who have the largest burden of response and preparedness to date.

The same day, CMS released a call to action to healthcare providers to ensure they are implementing appropriate infection control procedures. The agency also announced that, effectively immediately, all state survey agencies and accrediting organizations will focus facility inspections exclusively on issues related to infection control.