Community Health Centers Survive Funding Cliff for Another Two Years

Montana Community Health Centers (CHC) were facing a 70 percent funding cliff this May when Congress failed to reauthorize the Community Health Center Fund last September. As of Feb. 9, President Donald Trump signed a bipartisan budget bill that includes two years of continued funding. While the loss of funding threat is less urgent, Partnership Health Center (PHC), that provides services to Seeley Lake, encourages the public to continue to share the impact of the Health Centers with their Montana representatives to ensure funding for the future.

The Community Health Center Fund is a program that supports 16 community health centers in more than 40 locations in Montana. It serves more than 106,000 Montanans with dental, medical and behavioral health care.

Montana's CHC provide care to 10 percent of the state. Of those served, a majority are below the Federal Poverty Level, the level determined where people are unable to afford needed medical interventions.

"Without Montana's CHCs many of these patients would have nowhere else to access needed medical care," wrote PHC's Rebecca Goe.

PHC provides services to approximately 15,000 patients each year. About a quarter of their annual budget comes from the Community Health Center Fund. Without reauthorization of the federal funding, PHC was looking at a loss of $3.29 million, approximately 11 percent of their operating budget.

Because CHCs are required to operate with a sliding fee scale that will not be affected as long as the doors remain open. However, the funding cuts in extreme cases could lead to shutting down clinics, reducing access to health care on the sliding fee scale.

"As a community health center, we are committed to providing primary health care services for anyone who comes through our doors," wrote Goe. "PHC did not plan to close the Seeley Lake Clinic or the main Missoula Clinic even if congress didn't reauthorize funds."

PHC has diversified funding streams so while it would be difficult to make up the more than $3 million, it would continue to operate on the same scale it currently does. The cuts would have impacted PHC's ability to expand services, plan for the future and dive more deeply into community health.

Goe explained that while access to quality medical care is an important piece of overall health, there are social determinants of health that often are the root cause of health care problems. These include: equal access to good jobs, education, safe housing, legal support and early childhood enrichment for our kids.

"Health centers, supported by [federal] funding, are specifically positioned to use expertise and resources to connect community partners, support expansive programming and work to ameliorate poverty, the number one cause of poor health," wrote Goe. "The potential funding cut would have prevented us from expanding services to address social determinants for health."

On Feb. 6, PHC joined the call to urge lawmakers on Capitol Hill to extend funding for CHC and preserve affordable health care in communities across the country by participating in the National #RedAlert4CHCs Day of Action.

While the Montana delegation issued a joint statement Feb. 6 supporting CHCs, only Senator Jon Tester voted for the bipartisan spending bill that includes two years of funding for CHCs. 

"PHC is about improving the health and wellbeing of Missoula and Mineral County," wrote Goe. "We believe all people deserve the opportunity to lead healthy, productive lives.  Calling our representative and telling them how important the clinic is to the Seeley community can be incredibly powerful.  Even though we have secured CHC funding for another two years it is important for our delegation to continue to hear about the impact CHCs have in Montana communities."

Montana delegation can be reached by calling 202-224-2644 for Senator Jon Tester; 202-224-2651 for Senator Steve Daines and

Representative Greg Gianforte can be reached at 202-225-3211.