Aug. 29, 2017 – AxessPointe Community Health Centers was one of over 1,300 community health centers in the U.S. that received an award from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. HHS announced that almost $105 million will be distributed throughout the U.S. for health centers to invest in quality improvement. These funds will be used to continue to improve the quality, efficiency and effectiveness of the health care services in the communities they serve. AxessPointe received $21,911 for Clinical Quality Improvers, $5,250 to enhance access to care and $40,000 for achieving PCMH Recognition.
“Our community relies on us to provide them with the best health care possible,” said Chris Richardson, CEO of AxessPointe. “The funding from the HHS award will allow us to better our services to our patients and continue to bridge the gap to access of quality care.”
The funds are being distributed to health centers based on high levels of performance in one or more of the following areas: Improving Quality of Care, Increasing Access to Care, Enhancing Delivery of High Value Health Care, Addressing Health Disparities and Achieving Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) Recognition. The measures offer an overarching look at the services to manage conditions of the populations served by health centers.
Health centers have been delivering affordable, quality and cost-effective primary health care services for over 50 years. Today, there are close to 1,400 health centers operating more than 10,400 service delivery sites throughout the United States. The most recent UDS report showed that almost 26 million people used a HRSA-funded health center for primary health care in 2016.
AxessPointe Community Health Centers, Inc. is a federally qualified health center (or FQHC, commonly called a community health center) with five current sites in Northeast Ohio, including three in Akron, one in Kent and one in Barberton. A FQHC is a not-for-profit corporation that delivers primary medical, dental and preventive health services in medically underserved areas. AxessPointe also provides behavioral health and OB-GYN services. Originally named Akron Community Health Resources, Inc., the first center was located in Akron, and received funding in 1994 from the Bureau of Primary Health Care to establish the first federally qualified health center in Summit County. AxessPointe now employs more than 100 care providers at its four locations. Visit axesspointe.org to learn more.
For a full list of awards, visit: https://bphc.hrsa.gov/programopportunities/fundingopportunities/qualityimprovement/index.html
