As a part of the Biden administration’s announcement final month that just about $1 billion in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds shall be distributed to neighborhood well being facilities throughout the nation, US Senators Mark Kelly and Kyrsten Sinema introduced Thursday the allocation of $$19,656,854 to 23 amenities in Arizona.
Kelly stated in an announcement:
“Arizona’s Neighborhood Well being Facilities proceed to play a significant position in our response to COVID-19. These funds will assist well being facilities in each nook of our state proceed to offer reasonably priced, high-quality care to those that want it most as we proceed to recuperate from this pandemic.”
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Among the many awarded amenities are El Rio Santa Cruz Neighborhood Well being Middle in Tucson (receiving $1,749,193), Maricopa County Particular Well being Care District in Phoenix (receiving $1,461,158), and Chiricahua Neighborhood Well being Facilities in Elfrida (receiving $830,275).
Tara McCollum Plese, chief exterior affairs officer on the Arizona Alliance for Neighborhood Well being Facilities, spoke with State of Reform about how amenities have been chosen and the way the cash could be used, particularly in Maricopa County.
The Maricopa County Division of Public Well being, Plese defined, decided the place to speculate further ARPA funds by taking a look at and talking with totally different nonprofits within the county. She stated they determined to award the funding to those particular neighborhood well being facilities due to their demonstrated work serving to weak populations, similar to racial minorities, in the course of the pandemic.
“It was often because they noticed our well being facilities have been working onerous and aggressively going out and ensuring that weak populations, particularly in low-income neighborhoods the place there are a variety of minority teams … have been vaccinated, and that they have been coated, and that they nonetheless had entry to well being care …”
She stated the county used a “well being fairness lens” to allocate the funding, and acknowledged neighborhood well being facilities’ work implementing telehealth, conducting well being care outreach to assist scale back deferred care, disseminating vaccine info, and extra was serving to advance well being fairness within the county’s most underserved areas.
“I believe that’s a variety of the explanation why [Maricopa County] turned to the well being facilities, is as a result of we’re in these areas of Maricopa County the place you discover essentially the most weak populations … These are our sufferers, these are the people who we’re serving.”
Plese stated one instance of how the neighborhood well being facilities will use this funding is for added dental chairs to accommodate extra sufferers because the amenities proceed to combine dental companies into their care mannequin. Smaller amenities may use the funding to put money into rising their capability to care for his or her neighborhood, similar to by transforming or increasing.
“This capital funding is to make sure that these areas the place there should not at the moment different major care suppliers, and particularly not neighborhood well being facilities, are going to have the ability to fill the necessity in these areas …”
