The community health center movement is fortunate to be led and sustained by extraordinary leaders, whose commitment to health and health care justice is unparalleled. Alongside many who have been part of the health center community for decades are new, rising leaders, representing many different professions, who will help lead health centers into the future.
Each year, the Geiger Gibson Program at Milken Institute School of Public Health (GWU), in conjunction with NACHC, recognizes emerging leaders from health centers and primary care associations across the country whose contributions exemplify the mission and vision of Drs. H. Jack Geiger and Count Gibson, pioneers for community health and human rights and among our movement’s most distinguished founders.
Young public health professionals dedicated to providing high-quality, culturally competent health services to farmworker and underserved populations were recognized in a ceremony at the annual Agricultural Worker Health Conference, held this year in Albuquerque, N.M. These rising stars are recognized for their extraordinary efforts to advance health care in their own communities as well as their commitment, motivation, professional achievement, and leadership qualities that together further the health center mission.
This year’s extraordinary honorees as Emerging Leaders in Agricultural Health were Raymond Aguilar, M.D., of the Sea Mar Community Health Centers in (Seattle, WA); Allison Jackson, FNP, M.S., Beaufort Jasper Hampton Comprehensive Health Services (Ridgeland, SC); and Yajaira Johnson-Esparza, PhD, of Salud Family Health Centers (Commerce City, CO). Read the full press release about these dynamic stars here.
Yajaira Johnson-Esparza, PhD, of Salud Family Health Centers (CO) receives her award from RCHN CHF President & CEO, Feygele Jacobs, DrPH
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2019 Survey of Community Health Centers: Impact of Policy Changes
YOUR RESPONSE NEEDED: Health center CEOs recently received a survey on: (1) the impact on community health centers of recent or pending policy changes, including Medicaid work requirements and policies affecting immigrant families; 2) how health centers are responding to the opioid crisis; and 3) the financial and patient care-related challenges health centers face.
This survey is being conducted by the Geiger Gibson Program in Community Health Policy at Milken Institute SPH, GWU in partnership with the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC), the Kaiser Family Foundation, and the RCHN Community Health Foundation. Your input is critical for developing federal and state policy agendas and informing needed technical assistance. All CEOs of federally-funded health centers in the 50 states and DC should complete it immediately.
If your CEO has not received the survey link, please contact the Geiger Gibson Program in Community Health Policy at ggprogram@gwu.edu. The survey should be completed online but can be viewed before starting it at: http://www.nachc.org/research-and-data/
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New Research: How New Hampshire’s Medicaid Work Experiment Could Impact Community Health Centers
A new analysis of New Hampshire’s Medicaid work demonstration estimates that 2,500-3,779 community health center patients are at risk of losing coverage as a result of the state’s stringent new work and reporting requirements. The potential effects are far-reaching, and could result in Medicaid revenue losses to the state’s 11 CHCs of up to $2.8 million, which could, in turn, reduce capacity for up to 2,510 patients or nearly 11,000 visits.
This analysis was conducted by our colleagues Jessica Sharac, MSc, MPH, Peter Shin PhD, MPH, and Sara Rosenbaum, JD, researchers at Milken Institute School of Public Health at the George Washington University. It builds on recent work by GW colleagues Leighton Ku, PHD, MPH and Erin Brantley MPH, published by the Commonwealth Fund, which estimates that between 30 percent and 45 percent of all New Hampshire adults subject to the requirement – 15,000 to 23,000 beneficiaries – would lose Medicaid within one year.
Read the full report, What Could New Hampshire’s Medicaid Work Experiment Mean for Community Health Centers? here.
The National Health Law Program, New Hampshire Legal Assistance and National Center for Law and Economic Justice have filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia representing low-income individuals from New Hampshire, challenging HHS approval of the state’s Medicaid waiver project. A “friend of the court” brief signed by several public health deans and scholars, including GW researchers, calls on the Court to reject the harsh work and reporting requirements and strike down the New Hampshire work experiment. Read more about the amicus brief here.
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CHroniCles #Membership Monday Spotlight
Peoples Community Health Clinic started in a church basement in 1976, and now occupies a 40,000 square foot facility in the heart of downtown Waterloo, Iowa. In 2008, the health center opened a second site, Peoples Clinic Butler County (PCBC) in Clarksville. Both locations are recognized as Patient-Centered Medical Homes, and focus on strengthening relationships between patients and their health care teams.
Read their full profile on CHroniCles and contact us at info@rchnfoundation.org to be in the spotlight!
