Brooklyn, NY—As a part of the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s ongoing effort to increase funding for community health centers in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced their latest initiative to distribute $4.9 billion in additional relief funds to skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) as part of the CARES Act Provider Relief Fund. 

The HHS announcement follows Committee Vice Chair Yvette D. Clarke’s recent letter to HHS Secretary Alex Azar urging increased funding for federally qualified community health centers (FQHCs) in communities that have been devastated by the coronavirus outbreak. This funding will support nursing homes across the nation that have lost revenue due to COVID-19. In New York, this funding will be most useful in covering the cost of additional hospital beds and salaries for health practitioners. 

Clarke said: “As the Representative of one of the communities hit hardest by coronavirus, it’s vital to the renewal of our beloved neighborhood that our local healthcare facilities are properly funded. In these dire times, we cannot afford to run out of hospital beds for patients or not have the funding to pay our nurses and health care professionals when we need them the most. I’m grateful for the Department of Health and Human Services’ decision to distribute billions of dollars to nursing facilities across the country because this latest development will bring south and central Brooklyn one step closer to flattening the curve.”

This funding will allocate $394,092,500 to New York State, which will benefit some of the hardest-hit communities in the nation, including Congresswoman Clarke’s district in central and south Brooklyn. Congresswoman Clarke will continue to push initiatives at the federal level that tend to the needs of her community in this ongoing battle against coronavirus.

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