Four Santa Clara County Community Health Centers Receive $1 Million Grant to Strengthen Safety Net
Campbell, CA – May 20, 2014 – Implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) extended health care coverage to underserved residents of Santa Clara County, including more than 20,000 childless adults newly enrolled in Medi-Cal since January 1, 2014. Most of these new Medi-Cal beneficiaries now receive care at community health centers that are part of Santa Clara County's safety net. Many of these adults have multiple chronic conditions, and harder to treat conditions. Concurrent with serving these new beneficiaries enrolled as part of the dramatic expansion of health care coverage through the ACA, community health centers also serve thousands of community residents who are uninsured, and treat patients regardless of ability to pay.
In support of the community health centers, which provide culturally competent primary care and are a vital part of the health care delivery system, Santa Clara Family Health Plan (SCFHP) announced a grant award of $1 million. The grant is for improvements to assist the health centers in direct delivery of health care services and is to be divided evenly between the following non-profit community health centers:
- Gardner Family Health Network
- Indian Health Center of Santa Clara Valley
- Planned Parenthood Mar Monte
- Asian Americans for Community Involvement
SCFHP's mission is to ensure medical services are available and accessible to low income residents of Santa Clara County. A key to fulfilling this mission is SCFHP's partnership with the provider safety net, which is built around Santa Clara County's community health centers. "Indian Health Center and Santa Clara Family Health Plan share in the mission to improve the health of the communities we serve. This grant will enable IHC to increase access and capacity, allowing us to better serve residents of Santa Clara County," said Liz Hunt, CEO of Indian Health Center of Santa Clara Valley.
Reymundo Espinoza, CEO of Gardner Family Health Network notes, "Safety net organizations in Santa Clara County recognize the value of working together to leverage resources. Gardner Family Health Network looks forward to this further partnership with SCFHP to enable both organizations to better serve our community."
"With the ACA, SCFHP has seen a significant increase in enrollment in our Medi-Cal program, and we expect this number to continue to increase," said Elizabeth Darrow, CEO of SCFHP. "We appreciate the challenges facing the community health centers with this tremendous growth. Many of our members receive care at these health centers so working together to strengthen the health centers is a very important way to improve services for SCFHP members."