Oklahoma Primary Care Association

PROJECT PURPOSE

Community health centers in Oklahoma serve over 275,000 patients each year--providing access to affordable, high-quality care for those who could not otherwise access care due to geographic or financial barriers. By supporting cost-efficient primary care, the State can magnify the impact of its resources and benefit from its strategic investment in rural and underserved areas. Community health centers have been a critical part of the state's health care response, and they provide pipelines to success for their providers, staff, and patients. This grant will allow the 50+ CHCs operating in Oklahoma through capital improvements, to improve the quality of health care provided, expand operations to serve an additional 153,428 Oklahomans, a 59% increase, while creating approximately 400 new jobs in the process. Additionally, the project will allow CHCs to incorporate specialty health services that are currently unavailable, upgrade facilities and equipment, build and / or expand existing facilities, ensuring an exceptional health care experience for the underserved populations and rural Oklahoma communities that currently lack adequate access to affordable, quality health care. And finally, Every health center in the state is engaged in training the state?s future health care workforce. Currently, 13 health centers have partnerships to train nursing students; 12 train physician assistants; and many train medical residents, nurse practitioners, midwives, dentists, psychiatrists, counselors, and community health workers. Partnerships include working with third-year medical students at medical schools, embedding pharmaceutical training inside health center pharmacies, and preceptorships to train nurses and dentists. Health centers offer pathways to skilled careers to lower-level staff, and they provide opportunities for medical assistants and LPNs to move up within the health center to address our state?s nursing workforce crisis. Many health centers have arrangements with vocational schools to train and provide learning environments for medical assistant and phlebotomy programs. Community health centers are currently training hundreds of Oklahomans for future careers in health care and could train more with additional support.

EVIDENCE

According to the National Center for Health Workforce Analysis (NCHWA), the following are projected estimates of supply and demand for health care providers through 2030. National projections were generated using pre-pandemic data and therefore do not reflect the expected increase in shortages due to the impact of the pandemic. https://data.hrsa.gov/topics/health-workforce/workforce-projections o Projected primary care workforce shortage indicates a 6% increase in supply, but a 13% increase in demand. o Projected behavioral health care workforce shortage indicates a drop of 20% in supply, with a 3% increase in demand. This deficit is likely to increase due to the pandemic?s affect on mental health and substance use disorder, most notably in children and young adults. o Projected women?s health care workforce shortage indicates a drop of 7% in supply, with a 4% increase in demand.

POPULATION DESCRIPTION

Community health center patients in Oklahoma live in disproportionately low-income households and communities. 93% of patients live in households earning less than 200% of the federal poverty level, and 73% earn less than 100% FPL. Health centers are located across the state in medically underserved areas, including sparsely populated rural locations and highly populated urban centers with high rates of uninsured patients. Health centers provide services regardless of patients? ability to pay and serve vulnerable populations such as migrant farmworkers, individuals experiencing homelessness, schoolchildren, and individuals with limited English proficiency. There are 118 community health centers across Oklahoma located in 44 counties, with 27 of those counties in medically underserved areas / medically underserved populations.

PERFORMANCE MEASURING

Primary Care Association will oversee the implementation of the project. Responsibilities will include program management, subrecipient monitoring, ensuring compliance with federal guidelines. Additionally, we will ensure timely reporting to the ARPA committee of milestones reached, progress at each CHC, any potential red flags or delays and success metrics. Collection of data will include number of new jobs created, number of new patients, demographic info for patients, geographic info including qualified census tract for areas benefitting from this project. Further, priority will be given to construction components to avoid potential delays. Emphasis will be placed on obtaining multiple bids and ability of contractors to complete on time. Additionally, priority will be placed on ordering and sourcing equipment as soon as possible to mitigate potential supply chain interruptions. As much as possible, the use of Oklahoma based contractors will be prioritized.

ONGOING INVESTMENT AMOUNT

$

ONGOING INVESTMENT DESCRIPTION

None

ONGOING INVESTMENT REQUIRED

Able to continue operation without additional funding from the State of Oklahoma