The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), awarded more than $21 million to support health centers' COVID-19 response efforts, primarily to expand COVID-19 testing, according to a press release from HHS.
Most of the money —$17 million—supports what HHS calls Health Center Program look-alikes, which are health centers in underserved areas that typically do not receive funding from HRSA through the agency’s Health Center Program, which supports primary care delivery to patients regardless of their ability to pay.
Currently, nearly 88 percent of the so-called look-alike health centers conduct COVID-19 testing in their communities, and 56 percent offer walk-up or drive-up testing, HHS said. With this funding, these health centers “will expand the range of testing and testing-related activities to best address the needs of their communities, including the purchase of personal protective equipment; training for staff; outreach, procurement and administration of tests; laboratory services; notifying identified contacts of infected health center patients of their exposure to COVID-19; and the expansion of walk-up or drive-up testing capabilities,” HHS said in the release.
