The Community Health Center of Central Missouri (CHCCM) has received more than $7,700 in Affordable Care Funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
HHS gave 21 health centers more than $580,000 through the Health Care Quality Improvement Grant Awards. The HHS website defines health centers as community-based and patient-directed organizations that serve populations with limited access to health care.
"These funds reward and support those health centers that have taken steps to achieve the highest levels of clinical quality performance and improvement," Mary K. Wakefield of the Health and Resources Administration wrote in a press release.
These grants are awarded for three categories: health center quality leaders, clinical quality improvers and electronic health record reporters.
To receive leadership grants, a health center has to be in the top 30 percent of all health centers that achieved the best overall clinical outcomes. To receive grants for improvement, a health center has to have at least a 10 percent improvement in clinical quality measures between 2012 and 2013. For electronic record awards, a health center must use electronic health records to report and measure data on all of their patients. CHCCM was awarded funds for improvement.
CHCCM is a nonprofit, federally-qualified health center that offers medical, dental and behavioral health care through clinics in Linn, Jefferson City, Fulton and California. The money CHCCM received will be divided among the different clinics to meet their needs. It is likely the clinic's received amount will be based on patient population size, of which Jefferson City has the largest, said Lorna Cockrum, outreach coordinator for CHCCM.
"It is a tremendous honor for our clinic to be recognized," Cockrum said. "And the ability to give that back to the patient population that we serve, this is a tremendous thing for the community health center to receive dollars that we are able to give back."
She said CHCCM is unsure what it will use the grant for, but the needs of the clinics are being reviewed.
The CHCCM opened its clinic in Jefferson City in 2005. It serves more than 12,000 patients through all of its locations, Cockrum said. All forms of Medicaid and commercial insurance are accepted, and fees for uninsured patients are determined by a sliding scale that is based on federal poverty guidelines.