Secretary Thompson's Remarks to the HRSA All-Grantee Meeting

Thank you, Dr. Betty Duke for that warm introduction. And I would also like to thank Dr. Sam Shekar, the Assistant Surgeon General and Associate Administrator for Primary Health Care, and Dr. Dennis Williams the Deputy Administrator at HRSA for being here.

This event is about you.

As Secretary of Health and Human Services, I do everything I can to ensure Americans stay healthy, strong, and independent. And we advance this goal in many ways.

As you have heard, we are working to expand coverage by giving states more flexibility to cover people through Medicaid, and by improving and modernizing Medicare with better benefits and more choices. I just arrived from a meeting at the White House to discuss Medicare. We have taken a giant step forward. Today is the birthday for Medicare. Medicare was created 37 years ago today.

Through our HealthierUS program, we are encouraging people to stay healthy by exercising, eating right, and avoiding risky behavior. You can help me and help your clients by talking about preventive health. And I want to thank all of you for helping us spread these lifesaving messages.

This morning, when I met with the National Health Information Infrastructure conference, I announced the free dissemination of SNOMED, a standardized medical vocabulary system. SNOMED promises to reduce medical errors drastically by enabling health care providers to communicate electronically with each other about patients.

We've also asked the Institute of Medicine to design a standardized model of an electronic health record. We are working hard to make our health information centers interoperable, as we approach the goal of a paperless system.

Over the past two years, through waivers and state plan amendments, we have expanded access to health coverage for more than 2.2 million people, and we have expanded the range of benefits offered to 6.7 million other Americans. We have also proposed tax-based supports to help low-income Americans purchase health insurance.

And of course, we are also expanding access to health care in underserved communities by expanding our community health centers.

As you know, President Bush announced a bold goal of ending chronic homelessness by 2012. And as chairman of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, I am doing everything I can to achieve that goal. Because healthy people are more successful at getting and keeping housing, as well as jobs, your work with community health centers is critical to our success.

I always enjoy visiting your centers. I meet people with the nicest personalities. A few weeks ago, I led a Harley tour to the Greater Baden Health Services Center in Maryland to promote Medicare. And I look forward to visiting a community health center in Alaska next month.

Two years ago, when President Bush announced his five-year initiative to expand health centers, we all knew it was ambitious. But we needed an ambitious plan to ensure that low-income, underserved, and uninsured Americans received high quality health care.

In 2001: we had about 3200 clinics.

In 2002: we added 171 new clinics and expanded 131 existing sites.

In 2003: we want to add 90 new clinics and expand 80 existing sites.

In 2004: we expect to add more and more new clinics and expand more and more existing sites.

By adding 1200 new and expanded health centers by 2006, we will increase the number of patients served annually from about 11 million to 16 million.

We also knew that with the right people working together, we could achieve that goal.

You are the right people.

That is why I'm so pleased to announce a number of grants to you today.

With the first set of grants, totaling more than $25 million, we will expand the medical capacity of 66 community health centers. And we will offer health care to 300,000 additional Americans.

With the next set of grants of $35 million in new funding, we will adjust base grants to more than 750 centers to help cover costs resulting from increased demand. These awards range from $20,000 to $100,000, depending on the size of the health center.

To strengthen health care systems and encourage innovative approaches to health care delivery in rural communities, I'm happy to announce seven grants worth more than $1.2 million.

And finally, to improve our response to AIDS, I'm also releasing today $23 million in Ryan White CARE grants. These grants will support 45 organizations and will help communities provide outpatient and primary care services for low-income, medically underserved Americans who are living with HIV/AIDS or are at risk for contracting the virus. And twenty of these grants will go directly to health centers.

This year, the federal government will spend about $2 billion on AIDS services under Ryan White programs. As many of you know, President Bush has asked Congress for another $2 billion for next year.

We also have $15 billion toward fighting AIDS in Africa and the Caribbean.

Just last year HRSA exceeded the targets it had set by funding 171 new health center access sites and expanding 131 other ones. And over the past year, the health center network has served an additional 1 million patients.

I salute you and I thank you.

Ladies and gentleman, I just want to talk to you. We are giving you the support and help you deserve. Your centers are the places people go to when they can't get other coverage. They trust you and they believe in you and you haven't let them down. This conference is not only to strengthen your skills, but to give you the tools you need to do a better job.

When I visited the Baden Health Center, I had many staff members come up to me and tell me, "I love my work. I love the people."

America is better because you care so much.

Thank you and God bless you.

Last Revised: July 14, 2003

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