Supporters of Missouri’s Community Health Centers, a.k.a Federally Qualified Health Centers, (FQHCs), denounce draconian cuts proposed by the Missouri House Budget Committee.Vulnerable patients served by Missouri’s FQHCs will suffer from a disproportionate state funding cut to the healthcare home where they receive essential primary health services. Proposed cuts to FQHCs offered by the Missouri House Budget Committee represent a 68 percent cut to total state support for FQHCs. If enacted, the FQHC funding reduction will account for 11 percent of all the proposed cuts to state general revenue. The proposed cut to FQHCs alone exceeds the total cuts for the following state departments: Elementary and Secondary Education, Revenue, Transportation, Natural Resources, Conservation, Economic Development, Insurance, Labor, Public Safety, and Corrections. Cuts to FQHCs are almost equal to the total cuts proposed for the Department of Health, Higher Education, and the Office of Administration.For nearly a decade, the Missouri General Assembly has shown tremendous leadership and foresight by investing in Missouri's locally controlled, patient driven Community Health Centers, a.k.a. FQHCs. Our patients don't know us by the acronym FQHC; they know us as their healthcare home, their doctor's office, their nurse's office, their dentist's office, where families from one generation to another have received quality care. With state support, Missouri's FQHCs have increased access to comprehensive primary care services, inclusive of medical, dental, mental health, pharmaceutical, health education, and many other support services for thousands (360,000 Missourians through over 1.2 million annual patient visits) of Missouri children, moms, dads, grandmas, grandpas, and one of our most vulnerable populations, the disabled, in rural and urban communities.
State funding comprises 3%-15% of a health center’s operational budget. Unlike many other health providers, FQHCs do not have the ability to shift costs if such funding is eliminated or significantly cut and already operate on very tight margins.FQHCs provide comprehensive primary care to uninsured patients at a State cost of $63/patient/year.This draconian, seemingly arbitrary cut will have a significant and harshly negative impact on thousands of vulnerable Missourians. This proposed reduction of state FQHC core funding will cause lower-income people to drive further for care, wait longer for care, delay care, or not get served all, resulting in increased inappropriate emergency department usage. MPCA estimates that this proposal will reduce access by a decline of 40,000-60,000 annual patient visits. FQHCs will be forced to consider laying off health providers such as physicians, dentists, and nurses and/or closing sites in rural and urban Missouri.For a listing of all Community Health Center/FQHC locations,such as Community Health Center of Central Missouri in Jefferson City and Family Health Center in Columbia, go to www.mo-pca.org and click on “Find a Community Health Center”.
