October 23, 2009: SHARE Deputy Director Elizabeth Lukanen spoke yesterday at the fourth annual "Many Faces of Community Health" conference in Minneapolis, MN. The event was jointly hosted by the Minnesota Department of Health, the Minnesota Association of Community Health Centers, and the Neighborhood Health Care Network. This year's meeting, titled "Riding the Wave of Health Care Reform," focused on both national and state reforms and their impact on the delivery of health care to medically-underserved populations.
Elizabeth was invited to discuss the current status of federal health reform and its probable implications for community health centers (CHCs), which are likely to see both benefits and challenges from reform. To illustrate how CHCs might be affected, Elizabeth pointed to the recent experiences of CHCs in post-reform Massachusetts. The Massachusetts experience illustrates in particular the importance of considering the capacity of safety net providers (like CHCs) when creating reform policy, as the demand for their services increased significantly after Massachusetts' reform. Policy-makers at the federal level have taken steps to shore up the capacity of CHCs, as all three major proposals include provisions to increase funding for CHCs generally and for the primary care that comprises the majority of CHC services.
To view the slides from Elizabeth's presentation, click here.
SHARE grantee Sharon Long is evaluating the impact of Massachusetts' health reform initiatives on access to care as part of her SHARE-sponsored research. To learn more about this project, click here.