This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
New grants from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will allow community health centers in Ogden and Provo to begin serving homeless Utahns.
HHS announced this week that it would give $101 million in Affordable Care Act grants to 164 community health centers in 33 states. Of that, $2.3 million is flowing to three centers in Utah and one just north of the Utah-Idaho border, according to the Association for Utah Community Health (AUCH).
Previously, the Fourth Street Clinic in Salt Lake City was the only community health center to get federal funds to serve the homeless.
Now, Midtown Community Health Center in Ogden and Mountainlands Community Health Center in Provo will be doing the same.
Utah has 13 such centers, which operate 40 clinics providing medical, oral and behavioral health care to 125,000 patients who pay on a sliding scale based on their income.
Each depends on federal funding for about a quarter of their budgets.
Two grants also will go to open new community health centers in Cedar City and Montpelier, Idaho — Family Healthcare and Bear Lake Community Health Center.
Lisa Nichols, executive director of Midtown, said, "We are proud to receive this highly competitive grant which will allow us to offer services to homeless individuals across northern Utah," according to a news release. Midtown has clinics in Weber and Davis counties as well as in South Salt Lake.
"This award will increase access to affordable and high-quality primary and preventive healthcare, and helps fill a need for homeless healthcare in Weber and Utah counties" said Alan Pruhs, executive director of AUCH.
Twitter: @KristenMoulton