Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Contact: Jessica Robinson, 573-751-0290
Blunt Increases Funding to Improve Springfield Areas Access to Health Care
SPRINGFIELD– Gov. Matt Blunt today visited the Jordan Valley 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 Jordan Valley 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."
"We appreciate the governor's strong and continued support to improve health care for low income Missourians across the state. In the Springfield area, his efforts will help develop a new comprehensive primary care clinic to provide 50,000 square feet of clinic space that will offer integrated care services from primary and preventative care to urgent, behavioral health and specialty care services. His vision of a health care home and a standardized patient record will help improve the health outcomes of the patients we serve," said Brooks Miller, executive director of the Jordan Valley 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 Jordan Valley Community Health Center is slated to receive $10.6 million for the replacement of its current site in Springfield and for new equipment. The center's 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.