Thursday, June 14, 2007
Contact: Jessica Robinson, 573-751-0290
Blunt Signs Legislation to Improve Missourians' Health and Wellness
HANNIBAL–Gov. Matt Blunt today visited the Salt River Community Health Center to announce the signing of a budget bill that significantly expands health care access for Missourians. Health care providers and area residents lauded the governor's success in again securing significant funding increases to support Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC) and the more than 300,000 Missourians they serve.
"Missouri's health care facilities, like the Salt River Community Health Center, provide health care services for low-income and other traditionally medically underserved Missourians in our state - regardless if patients have health insurance," Gov. Blunt said. "My budget enhances the centers' ability to provide quality care and furthers the goal of making health care more accessible and affordable to all Missourians."
"Thanks to the leadership of Governor Blunt and the state legislature our Community Health Center is able to provide a medical home to the nearly one-in-five families in Northeast Missouri that are uninsured or underinsured. House Bill 16 increases funding for community health centers across the state and gives our efforts here a strong boost," said Terrell Dempsey, President, Board of Directors for Salt River Community Health Center.
Blunt's Lewis and Clark Discovery Initiative will send $60 million to FQHCs to expand and support the services they deliver to low-income Missourians. In 2006, Missouri's community health centers served 307,000 Missourians through more than 1.1 million encounters.
The Salt River Community Health Center will receive $1.5 million dollars for equipment and a new site for community health center in Hannibal area. The centers' doors are open to all, and this investment will further expand Missourians access to the care they need.
The governor also secured $5 million in next year's budget to enhance information technology at FQHCs through electronic health records system. Most patient health records are currently stored in paper form and housed with individual providers. An electronic health records system has the potential to dramatically improve Missourians' health and can make health care information more accessible to providers, consumers and public health agencies to empower them to make the best health care decisions for their patients.