Twenty-six Virginia health centers to receive $1.7 million in federal funding

The American Rescue Plan will provide $1,768,500 in federal funding for health centers across Virginia.

Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine announced Tuesday that the funding will enable health centers to advance health equity through better data collection and reporting, as well as support data modernization efforts to better identify and respond to patient and community needs through improved data quality.

Awarded through the Health Resources & Services Administration, according to a press release, the funding will also advance COVID-19 response, mitigation, and recovery efforts, and help prepare for future public health emergencies.

“During the pandemic, we saw how outdated public health data systems hampered efforts to provide care to people across Virginia and our country, especially to our most vulnerable communities,” Warner and Kaine said in the press release. “This funding will help ensure community health centers have the resources needed to continue serving their communities.”

Kaine, a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions (HELP) Committee, introduced legislation early this year to modernize the country’s public health data infrastructure. Provisions from Kaine’s legislation were included in the PREVENT Pandemics Act, which passed in March.

Twenty-six health centers in the Commonwealth will each receive $65,500, as well as Lynchburg’s The Community Access Network, Inc. a Health Center Program Look-Alike (L2C). The press release stated that L2Cs are community-based health care providers that do not receive Health Center Program funding but are eligible to apply for some federal benefit programs.

Harrisonburg Community Health Center, Inc. in Harrisonburg, Loudoun Community Health Center in Leesburg, Lexington’s Rockbridge Area Free Clinic, Martinsville Henry County Coalition for Health and Wellness in Martinsville, Highland Medical Center in Monterey, Roanoke’s Kuumba Community Health & Wellness Center, Inc., and Richmond’s Daily Planet Inc. City of Richmond are among the funding recipients.