December 21, 2023 11:10 a.m.

Oregon U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, along with Representatives Suzanne Bonamici and Andrea Salinas, joined bipartisan colleagues this week to urge the Health Resources and Services Administration to provide more access to federal resources for community healthcare centers.

A joint release said currently there are 136 Federally Qualifed Health Center Look-Alike in Oregon and across the nation that provide services for over 1 million patients, but still don’t receive federal resources they should be eligible for. FQHC Look-Alikes are organizations that meet all of the eligibility requirements of an FQHC that receives a Public Health Service Section 330 grant, but do not receive grant funding.

The legislators said, “These community-based health care providers are already serving populations that may not otherwise be able to access care, and hope to expand the reach of their services to more people”.

Their letter to agency officials said, “HRSA should be leveraging the network of FQHC Look-Alikes. By prioritizing Look-Alikes that already comply with Health Center Program requirements over brand new sites, HRSA will ensure that federal dollars are being allocated to health centers with a proven track record of success that hope to expand the universe of patients they can serve and expand the care that they are able to offer”.

The letter was led by Senator Wyden and U.S. Representative Moe Morelle, a Democrat from New York. Along with Wyden, Merkley, Bonamici and Salinas, the letter was signed by nine other lawmakers.