On May 16, 2014, 130 congressional and administration staff, journalists , and other Washington, D.C., policy stakeholders convened for a briefing to discuss the findings from The Commonwealth Fund's 2013 Survey of Federally Qualified Health Centers and the new pressures and opportunities for health centers under the Affordable Care Act's coverage expansion.
Leighton Ku, Ph.D., of the Center for Health Policy Research at George Washington University discussed health center capacity in light of recent coverage expansions and highlighted lessons learned about the capacity and fiscal health of health centers after the Massachusetts coverage expansion. Vernita Todd, M.B.A., of Heart City Health Center in Elkhart, Indiana, shared an on-the-ground perspective on the center's efforts to leverage federal investments and implement delivery system innovations to improve patient care. Brooks Miller of the Jordan Valley Health Center in Springfield, Missouri, discussed the status of the coverage expansion with respect to Missouri health centers and highlighted strategies to forge new partnerships with health systems and payers. Michelle Proser of the National Association for Community Health Centers highlighted national research and data analysis to answer critical questions about health centers and the populations they serve. The briefing was comoderated by Ed Howard, J.D., of the Alliance for Health Reform and The Commonwealth Fund's Melinda Abrams.
Presentation, materials, and webcast from the briefing are available on the Alliance for Health Reform's website at: http://www.allhealth.org/briefing_detail.asp?bi=320