Government Healthcare Policy, Business and Technology

Still waiting for Congress to act, Pennsylvania community health centers begin cutbacks

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: The grant that provides most of the federal funding for community health centers has now gone unfunded for four months — the longest period of time since the program was signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson in 1964.

And U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pennsylvania, said Thursday that he and other members of Congress on both sides of the aisles are trying to put pressure on to get a long-term funding plan for health centers over the next two weeks.

But if it is approved, it will already be too late for the Keystone Rural Health Consortia in central Pennsylvania. At the beginning of January, Keystone began making cuts to staff and hours at its five health center locations — two of which also have dental clinics — in Centre, Cameron and Elk counties.

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