A new partnership of Community Health Centers, patient, provider and consumer advocates, and leaders from the biopharmaceutical industry have come together with the shared goal to modernize the 340B program. This alliance, known as the Alliance to Save America’s 340B Program (ASAP 340B), was built with the intention to produce clear, practical, and achievable solutions that realign the program in the best interests of safety net providers, low-income and other vulnerable patients.

Follow this link to learn more about how ASAP 340B brings together unlikely allies to advance solutions in support of protecting patients and communities.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 Contact: Amy Simmons Farber

202-309-0338

MEDIA ADVISORY

Largest Gathering of Community Health Center Leaders Kicks Off in Nation’s Capital

Bethesda, MD – Hosted by the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC), the 2023 Policy and Issues Forum scheduled for this week (March 8-11) will draw thousands of Community Health Center advocates from around the country – including doctors, nurses, pharmacists, patients and senior executives.  Key areas of focus for the conference will be rebuilding the primary care workforce, protecting the low-cost 340B prescription drug program for patients, and ensuring equitable access to affordable health care.

The NACHC gathering comes on the heels of a NACHC report release showing that 100 million Americans – approximately one-third of the U.S. population – have trouble accessing primary health care.

Conference keynote speakers include Ana Navarro, GOP Strategist and Political Contributor to CNN and Telemundo, and Co-Host of ABC’s The View; and Bakari Sellers, CNN Political Analyst and Former State Representative from South Carolina.  Top health officials from the Biden Administration will also address the General Session, including Carole Johnson Administrator, Health Resources and Services Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Other conference highlights include the EXPO hall with a host of vendors from the health care industry.  There is also a full day set aside at the conference for health centers advocates to dialogue on strategies for protecting 340B.

A preliminary schedule of events can be found at this link.

Members of the press who wish to cover the NACHC P&I must register in advance. To learn more about NACHC’s press policies and guidelines, please visit this link.

WHAT: The 2023 NACHC Policy and Issues Forum

WHERE: Marriott Marquis Washington DC
901 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20001

WHEN: March 8-11, 2023

Follow conference events and highlights on Twitter using the hashtag #NACHCevents

For questions please contact: Amy Simmons Farber, AVP, Media Relations, NACHC, 202 309 0338.

“Nearly a third of Americans lack access to primary care, according to a new report,” wrote Nada Hassanein, environmental and health inequities reporter for USA Today. “More than 100 million people in the United States don’t have a primary care provider, and about a quarter of those are children, according to the report, ‘Closing the Primary Care Gap,’ released Monday by the National Association of Community Health Centers.”

Follow this link to access USA Today’s coverage of NACHC’s findings.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Amy Simmons Farber

asimmons@nachc.com

202-309-0338

Closing the Primary Care Gap:

NACHC Report Spotlights Health Care Access Barriers in Underserved Communities

Bethesda, MD – Today, the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) released a report finding that over 100 million Americans face barriers to accessing primary care. A trend of rural hospital closures and a worsening shortage of primary care providers are driving the crisis, leaving one-third of the U.S. population vulnerable to public health threats and untreated chronic diseases. The report, “Closing the Primary Care Gap,” describes America’s medically disenfranchised population and how, with expanded federal resources, Community Health Centers can begin to address gaps in primary care.

“The primary care gap is deepening in underserved communities across our nation, and Community Health Centers are vital to filling in those gaps by providing critical routine health care services. The COVID-19 pandemic only illuminated existing healthcare inequalities in the most vulnerable areas of our nation, making it crystal clear the important role of health centers,” said Rachel Gonzales-Hanson, Interim President and CEO of the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC). “The Closing the Primary Care Gap report illustrates an unfortunate picture of medically underserved Americans with a disproportionately higher risk of harm from preventable diseases – and one-quarter of them are children. Expanding access to primary health care must be a national priority.”

Access to primary care in medically disenfranchised communities can be improved through strategic federal investments, such as incentives for primary care practitioners to train and work in medically underserved communities and additional funding for health centers to expand their reach to more people who need care. Right now, there are not enough health centers to meet demand. The number of health center patients has grown by 6 million people, or 24% since 2015, and health centers are serving an unprecedented 30 million plus patients nationwide. There’s a host of challenges for health centers to navigate including financial uncertainty, a provider shortage worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic, and a growing patient population who have multiple and complex health needs.

Health centers rely in part on federal funding to provide care to patients on a sliding fee scale. Though federal funding has increased by 14% since 2015, the per-patient, inflation-adjusted value of health center funding has declined by over $2 billion. With additional funding, health centers could extend their network of providers into medically disenfranchised communities to provide affordable, high-quality care to more patients.

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About the National Association of Community Health Centers

Established in 1971, the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) serves as the leading national voice for America’s Health Centers and as an advocate for health care access for the medically underserved and uninsured.