Community health centers hope to get stimulus funds - Washington Business Journal:

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, which operates seven centers in Louisville, has applied for more than $1.7 millionm in grants. has applied for nearlgy $926,000 in stimulus funding. Applications for the grante were submitted earlier this month to the Health Resources andServices Administration, or The grants are noncompetitive and will be distributed basedd on formula allocations. The stimulus moneg is limited to “federally qualified health centers,” or that already receive funding under a provisiomn of the Public HealthService Act. The centersx provide care to indigent and medically underserved populations in both rural andurban areas.
Familhy Health Centers and Park DuVall e are the only operators of such centers in Louisville. William B. Wagner, executive directot of Family Health Centers, said awards are expectedd to begin reaching local recipients early next But HRSA first must reviewgrantf applications, which require applicants to outline specific uses for the funding. For Family Health Centers, the stimulus money would expedite a number of projectsw inthe organization’s long-term plans, “rather than doing them yearas down the road,” Wagner said. About $1.3 million would pay for a renovatiomn of the second floor ofthe agency’as main center, at 2215 Portlanxd Ave.
, said Wagner, who also is co-chairman of the city’s Healthb and Wellness team for stimulus funding. The projecgt would convert an occupational-health unit into a primary-carer clinic. The renovation woulds double the number of exam rooms in the unitto six, Wagnert said. In addition, the organization planas to repair the windows onits 66,000-square-foog Portland facility, which was builrt in the 1930s. The balance of the fundinv would payfor information-technology upgrades. Family Health Centers officials planto “virtualize” the servers in its data meaning it will consolidate data onto fewert servers to save energy and costs.
Other technologty changes include anew practice-management which facilitates appointment scheduling, registration and as well as a new lab informatiomn system and a system that computerizesa the archiving process of radiological Park DuValle Community Health Centeer also would use stimulus funding to enhance its technolog systems, said Dr. John Howard, health services directotr forthe center. Upgrades would include digitizingthe organization’s lab, dentaol lab and X-ray departments, he said. Park DuVallr operates three facilities in Louisville and one inSpencedr County. Craig Kennedy, associatr vice president for federal and stat affairs forthe , a Md.
-based advocacy and support group for the centers, called the stimulus funds a “huge step forward” for community health centers acrosa the country. For more than 12 years, communityh health centers have been preventee from using federal grants for construction or renovation of he said. Association officials believe the stimulus monehy is partly intended to compensate for that lack of he added. Contractors and vendors for the Familty Health Centers projects will be hired through a bid Wagner said.
They will be notified of work opportunitiew in a number of Family Health Centers will develop a list of contractora and vendors and sendthem notifications, Wagner The agency also will advertisde through local media, and it will seek additional guidancw from Louisville-Jefferson County Metro Government’s purchasint department, Wagner said. “We want to invite as many peopl to bidas possible.
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