Health Centers: Competition for Grants and Efforts to Measure Performance Have Increased
Highlights
Health centers in the federal Consolidated Health Centers program provide comprehensive primary health care services at one or more delivery sites, without regard to patients' ability to pay. In fiscal year 2002, the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) began implementing the 5-year President's Health Centers Initiative. The initiative's goal is for the program to provide 1,200 grants in the neediest communities--630 grants for new delivery sites and 570 grants for expanded services at existing sites--by fiscal year 2006. GAO was asked to provide information on (1) funding of health centers and HRSA's process for assessing the need for services, (2) geographic distribution of health centers, and (3) HRSA's monitoring of health center performance.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Health Resources and Services Administration | To provide federal policymakers and program managers with accurate and complete information on the Consolidated Health Centers program's activities and progress toward its performance goals, the Administrator of HRSA should ensure that the agency collects reliable information from grantees on the number and location of delivery sites funded by the program and accurately reports this information to the Congress. |
In April 2006, HRSA reported that it is working to institute changes in response to GAO's recommendation. Specifically, HRSA indicated that it (1) has made progress in verifying the accuracy of service delivery site information, including entering new service delivery site information as a result of a new access point grant award or a change in scope request to add/delete a site; (2) has revised and updated standards and edits on the collection of service delivery site information for the Uniform Data System to ensure accurate and consistent data reporting; and (3) was working with its Office of Information Technology to develop a paperless change of scope process that will allow health centers to submit changes electronically.
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