Last year funding for programs such as the National Health Service Corps (NHSC) were temporarily unavailable because the two year extension expired without a resolution. To ensure that we do not have that same issue this October, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee scheduled a bipartisan hearing entitled: Access to Care: Health Centers and Providers in Underserved Communities on Tuesday, January 29. ACU along with the American Association of Teaching Health Centers (AATHC), and the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) were asked to provide speakers who could attest to the importance of primary care programs facing a similar funding cliff later this year. The speakers included: Dr. Andrea Anderson, Medical Director of Family Medicine at Unity Heath Care, Inc. in Washington, D.C., Dr. Dennis Freeman, Chief Executive Officer of Cherokee Health Systems in Knoxville, Tennessee, Dr. John Waits, Chief Executive Officer of Cahaba Medical Care in Centreville, Alabama, and Thomas Trompeter, President and Chief Executive Officer of Healthpoint in Renton, Washington.
Dr. Andrea Anderson spoke to the importance of the NHSC from personal experience – she is both a scholarship and loan repayment recipient of the program. In addition Unity Health Care has the largest number of NHSC placements in the country! If you would like to read Dr. Anderson’s written statement click here. If you would like to watch the full hearing, including Dr. Anderson’s testimony, please click here.
