See also: The Importance of Community Health Centers by Ellen-Marie Whelan
Event: Health Centers as Economic Engines for Their Communities
Any investment in community health centers has the added benefit—beyond providing quality health care to the nation’s most vulnerable populations—of stimulating the economy in the communities where they are located. Community Health Centers have a 45-year history of providing care in federally designated underserved communities for everyone, regardless of their ability to pay.
After the passage of comprehensive health care reform earlier this year, an additional 32 million Americans will have health insurance coverage, with about half of these individuals likely to be covered through an expansion of the Medicaid program. Policymakers identified community health centers as ideal locations to provide this additional care and included an additional $9.5 billion in operating expenses for these centers.
This additional funding extends far beyond the walls of the community health center. It will have the ripple effect of supporting neighborhood industries that sell their products to the centers and subsequently creates additional jobs. This map estimates how the additional funding for health centers would be distributed throughout the nation—both in actual dollars and additional jobs. Although the numbers are depicted at the state level, the advantage of funding through these health centers is that the money goes to the nation’s most distressed communities, which are mostly rural and urban.
For a full discussion of community health centers, the people and communities they serve, and the economic activity they create, see CAP’s accompanying memo, “The Importance of Community Health Centers: Engines of Economic Activity and Job Creation.”
Notes: All numbers represent direct, indirect, and induced economic impacts. Total economic impact includes the value-added impact. Each Full Time Equivalent denotes one full-time employee. Total FTEs denote total workforce generated by health centers. For the definition of FTE and additional explanation, see the appendix in CAP’s accompanying memo “The Importance of Community Health Centers: Engines of Economic Activity and Job Creation” (pdf).
Source: Based on revenue trends from the 2009 Uniform Data System, Bureau of Primary Health Care, HRSA, DHHS and new health center funding as described in the Affordable Care Act—analysis by National Association of Community Health Centers and Capital Link. Nevada health center data provided directly from Nevada health centers. Prepared by Capital Link with MIG, Inc. IMPLAN Software Version 3.0, 2008 structural matrices and 2008 state-specific multipliers.
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