More than $200 million in stimulus funding is bolstering Vermont’s health care system. While the lion’s share of this sum is being used to support the state’s Medicaid program and improve health information technology, Vermont’s eight community health care centers are receiving a healthy slice - $21 million - which will be used to expand access to health care to thousands of Vermonters.

Two billion dollars in last year’s stimulus bill is designated nationally for Federally Qualified Health Centers. Senator Sanders, who serves on the health committee, fought to double the health center funding.

“As important as health centers are for providing access to primary care for everyone, they also dramatically reduce costs by treating patients before they become so sick that they wind up in emergency rooms or hospitals,” Sanders said.

A substantial piece of the funding will be used by the Community Health Center of Burlington, which is in the city’s Old North End. The center was awarded $10.9 million in stimulus funds to build a new facility that will double the center’s size and allow it to serve more patients throughout Chittenden County. The center offers primary health care, dental care, mental health counseling and low-cost prescription drugs to roughly 13,000 Vermonters.

Burlington was among only 80 centers out of 620 applicants nationwide that won a share of $525 million in one-time competitive grants. The winning health centers had to demonstrate proposed projects would improve access to health care and create jobs.

“The new Burlington center will expand services for more patients from throughout the community at a much-improved facility,” Senator Sanders said.

Earlier this year, the eight community health centers throughout Vermont received almost $5 million in economic stimulus funds to address immediate and pressing facility and equipment needs. The Vermont centers also shared $1.5 million to expand services and create jobs. Separately, Springfield Hospital was awarded $1.3 million to become Vermont’s eighth Federally Qualified Health Center.  The hospital is believed to be the first health center ever established by an entity that also operates a hospital, allowing for "unique opportunities for efficiency and coordination of care. We are setting a national precedent and drawing interest from many areas,” according to Chief Financial Officer Andrew Majka.

“We are making significant progress in improving access to affordable primary health care in Vermont,” Senator Sanders said. “In the last few years we have gone from two federally qualified health centers to eight - and now more than 100,000 Vermonters get their primary care at these centers.”

In addition to the $2 billion in the stimulus bill, another $11 billion was added to community health centers in the health care reform law. George Washington University researchers released a report that projects nearly $200 billion in savings from the investment in community health centers.

The analysis by the George Washington University School of Public Health found the federal grants for community health centers will reduce total national medical costs by more than $180 billion over the next 10 years, including savings of more than $50 billion in federal Medicaid spending and more than $30 billion in reduced state Medicaid expenditures.

"Expanding community health centers will provide a medical home for almost 20 million more Americans, cut down on emergency rooms visits and save taxpayers billions of dollars,” Senator Sanders said.

Every center in Vermont received a boost from the stimulus package to help improve access to affordable care to communities throughout the state. 

Aside from Burlington, Vermont’s other centers are the Community Health Centers of The Rutland Region in Bomoseen; Little Rivers Health Care of Bradford; Community Health Services of the Lamoille Valley in Morrisville; The Health Center of Plainfield; Northern Tier Community Health in Richford; Northern Counties Health Care in St. Johnsbury; and, the Springfield Medical Care Systems in Springfield. 

Altogether, the Vermont centers and 40 satellite offices provide primary health care to more than 108,000 patients regardless of their ability to pay.

To read more about the stimulus program's impact in Vermont, click here.