Letter to the Hon. Thomas Engel, Admin. of the Health Resources and Services Administration - After securing billions for community health centers in "Corona 3' emergency package, Schumer, Gillibrand rebuke Feds for failng to distribute funds based on need; with NY as epicenter of pandemic, NY's 63 community health centers have been lifelines to bursting hospitals & need all available resources ASAP

Letter

Dear Administrator Engels,

As our country faces these deeply difficult times and New York has become the international epicenter of COVID-19, we write to thank the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) for quickly distributing the $1.32 billion in emergency funding for community health centers (CHCs) provided in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. However, we are deeply concerned that the methodology used to determine the distribution of those funds does not adequately take into consideration the unique burdens New York's health centers are facing because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Although New York providers are undoubtedly some of the best in the world, there are more than 149,000 cases of coronavirus throughout New York State and proper support is essential.

New York's community health centers are a cornerstone of the state's healthcare system with over ten million patient visits annually. Now more than ever, New York's 760 Community Health Centers have become a lifeline by continuing to step up, save lives, and fight this deadly battle on the frontlines.

HRSA received $100 million in supplemental funding for CHCs in Congress's first legislative response to the COVID-19 crisis, the Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act. The agency disbursed these funds using a distribution formula that failed to consider the challenges facing community health centers located in areas most impacted by COVID-19, like New York. Under this formula, New York received roughly 5% of the nationwide distribution which translated to only about $5 million for the state's 63 health centers.

On Wednesday, April 8th, 2020, HRSA disbursed another round of funding for CHCs appropriated by the Congress in the CARES Act passed on March 27th, 2020. While we applaud the agency's haste in distributing these funds to our health centers, we remain concerned about the formula that the agency employed in allocating these resources. In this latest round of funding, HRSA grants to New York health centers totaled just under $77 million, or just 5.8% of the total funds the Congress included in the latest coronavirus relief legislation.

We are disappointed and disturbed to see that the distribution formula HRSA employed for these funds only takes into account total patient volume and the uninsured patient volume and ignores the fact that New York health centers are also caring for patients in the areas hardest hit by an unprecedented global health crisis. The decision to apportion such a small percentage of these funds to our state's CHCs occurred as New York tragically had the most coronavirus cases of any state in the nation and a death toll from the virus surpassing 6,200.

Many safety-net clinics in New York State, and other high-demand areas, have quickly pivoted to respond to the pandemic, causing them to shift resources away from routine primary care and toward caring for COVID-19 patients with limited and dwindling financial resources. Right now, New York health centers are losing $30 million a week and expect to lose $390 million over the next three months. We have heard from numerous New York community health centers, which are supporting the New York state hospital system's capacity to address this crisis, that these financial difficulties are already forcing them to let go of clinical and non-clinical staff.

It is unacceptable that HRSA has chosen not to equip these frontline providers with more, desperately needed resources to continue to play a critical role in addressing this frontline crisis.

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