KHI NEWS SERVICE
WASHINGTON, D.C., Nov. 14
U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., was among a bipartisan group of senators who voted today for the Health Centers Renewal Act of 2007.
“I am pleased we passed this legislation to give more Americans access to top quality health services, especially in rural areas,” Roberts said in a prepared statement. “Our rural communities in Kansas have unique needs and these programs attract more primary health professionals to help rural patients and providers.”
Roberts is co-chairman of the Senate Rural Health Caucus.
The bill, approved unanimously by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions
Committee, now goes to the full Senate for a vote.
It would renew two health programs that Roberts said are important for Kansas:
* S 901 includes increased funding for the National Health Service Corps, a long-standing federal loan repayment and scholarship program that focuses on getting primary care physicians and other primary health professionals to medically underserved areas. Kansas had 46 placements across the state in 2006, with the bulk of the professionals located in rural areas.
* Also as part of the legislation, the Community Health Centers program is renewed and expanded for another five years. Community Health Centers are local, non-profit, community-owned health care organizations in low-income and medically underserved communities. In 2004, the Kansas centers served more than 62,000 individuals across the state. Kansas has 10 federally-funded Community Health Centers and there are two in Missouri that serve Kansans. The bill would expand the current Community Health Centers and their services as well as expand the number of centers in Kansas.
“This is a program that works,” Roberts said. “Studies have shown that those who use this program are healthier and use emergency rooms less, which keeps costs lower for all Kansans. It is my hope that passage of this bill will allow this program to expand to other Kansas communities. ”