Melanie Zanona,  of Roll Call reports: “Advocates for community health centers facing a drop-off in federal payments later this year are highlighting the estimated $24 billion in medical spending {they say} the centers save annually.”

“Mandatory funding authorized by the 2010 healthcare law—which makes up almost 70 percent of the centers’ overall funding—will run out on Sept. 30 unless Congress intervenes.”

“Supporters acknowledged that federal funding cuts could spell doom for the centers, which have existed since the 1960s and have long enjoyed bipartisan support.”

Miss Zanona reports that “Community health centers are projected to serve 28 million patients this year in areas that typically lack access to large hospitals or doctors’ offices.  The facilities are often credited with generating healthcare savings by improving patient outcomes and enhancing poor and uninsured individuals’ access to care.”

Many of these facilities are in low-income rural areas, such as Appalachia, that vote heavily Republican. That’s one reason why we at Cambridge Management Group, which has done extensive work  with Federally Qualified Health Centers, guess that a bipartisan deal will save federal funding for these community health centers, though maybe, as is often the case on Capitol Hill, at the last minute.