Legislation Would Expand Access to Primary Health Care Services in Rural and Underserved Communities
WATCH SENATOR ROSEN’S REMARKS HERE.
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions advanced Senator Jacky Rosen’s (D-NV) bipartisan Maximizing Outcomes through Better Investments in Lifesaving Equipment for (MOBILE) Health Care Act, which would expand access to primary health care services in rural and underserved communities. Too many of Nevada’s small and rural communities lack access to health centers, and community health centers are currently unable to use federal funding to establish mobile health care sites. This bill, introduced alongside Senator Susan Collins (R-ME), provides community health centers with the flexibility to use federal funds through the New Access Points Grants program to establish new, mobile health care delivery sites.
“Nevadans deserve access to quality, affordable health care regardless of where they live,” said Senator Rosen. “In underserved and rural communities where health care access is limited, we should be building on the success we’ve seen with mobile health clinics and ensure they can continue to provide essential access to care.”
“On behalf of Community Health Centers and the 29 million patients they serve, I want to thank Senator Jacky Rosen and Senator Susan Collins for pushing this important bill to extend access to high-quality primary care to rural communities through an expansion of mobile clinics,” said Rachel Gonzales-Hanson, Interim President and CEO of the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC). “Nearly half of health centers are located in rural and frontier communities, but we know there is still unmet need. Additional mobile health clinics have the potential to leverage the reach of health centers and fully serve hard-to-reach across the country patients.”
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