A new report by researchers at the Geiger Gibson/RCHN Community Health Foundation Research Collaborative is forecasting that community health centers would face a $48 billion shortfall in total revenues between 2018 and 2022 if Congress moves to repeal some key provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and separately fails to renew the Health Centers Fund before it is set to expire in September 2017.
This report, “Projected Financial Losses Experienced by Community Health Centers under a Scenario of Major Cuts in Key Sources of Federal Funding: 2018-2022,” is the first to look at the economic impact on health centers of major changes in federal programs that fund health care for low-income and medically underserved people.
The policy brief simulates the impact of potential major changes in federal funding on community health centers and assesses the financial burden other state and federal programs would have to assume to help centers maintain services at their current capacity. It projects that a shortfall equaling 28.3 percent of the funding would be required just to maintain services as projected under ACA.
Avi Dor, PhD, a professor in the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health, was the report's lead author. The team from the school's Department of Health Policy and Managementalso included Eric Luo, a PhD student; Ali Moghtaderi, PhD, MBA, an assistant research professor; and Anne Markus, PhD, MHS, JD, an associate professor. The report can be accessed here.