Could Congress Help Community Health Centers Expand Mobile Health Outreach?

A bill introduced this past March in the Senate could help community health centers improve access to care for underserved populations through mobile health clinics, some with telehealth capabilities.

The Maximizing Outcomes through Better Investments in Lifesaving Equipment (MOBILE) for Health Care Act (S. 958), sponsored by Senators Jackie Rosen (D-NV) and Susan Collins (R-ME), would expand allowable use criteria under the Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA’s) New Access Points Grant Program to support mobile health units. Those vehicles, in turn, might be equipped with connected health technology to help underserved populations access healthcare services.

“Community health centers in Maine and across the country play an indispensable role in ensuring rural and underserved communities receive affordable and quality health care, particularly as we continue to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic,” Collins said in a press release. “The MOBILE Health Care Act would help community health centers further expand their reach to the most rural parts of our state by giving them greater flexibility and allowing them to bring clinics even closer to the patients they serve.”

The proposed legislation would open the door to a wide range of programs pushed out through mobile health units into communities, including primary care, behavioral health, health and wellness screenings and services like dental and eye care.

While helping community health centers reach people who can’t or won’t access care at the centers, the bill would also give them more leeway to acquire, lease, expand or renovate mobile medical equipment and vehicles, allowing them to develop mobile health units with telehealth services.

Mobile health units have proven popular during the coronavirus pandemic for improving access to care for people who’ve steered clear of hospitals, doctor’s offices, clinics and health centers because of the risk of infection. They’ll become even more important as healthcare providers look for new ways to entice patients back for care they skipped during the pandemic.

The bill has the support of, among others, the American Dental Association, which is looking for new ways to expand oral health services and attract people who won’t go to the dentist’s office.

“As an organization dedicated to improving the oral health of the public, the ADA recognizes the important role that mobile dental units play in bringing care to underserved areas and populations, including children and the elderly,” The ADA said in a recent letter to Rosen and Collins. “Community-based care like mobile units and Community Health Centers are integral to the ADA’s Action for Dental Health (ADH) initiative, which is a national campaign to provide care to people who suffer from untreated dental disease, strengthen and expand the dental safety net, and bring dental disease prevention and education into communities.”