Children’s Hospital & Research Center Oakland Awarded Nearly $3 Million by Affordable Care Act for Community Health Services
Grants will Fund Expansion of Primary Care and Teen Clinic Facilities and Services

May 3 , 2012

Oakland, Calif. – Children’s Hospital & Research Center Oakland announced today that it received two grants totaling $2,913,505 from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service’s Affordable Care Act to expand and improve community health centers and serve more patients.

"The Affordable Care Act grants are a tremendous achievement for Children’s Hospital & Research Center Oakland. This funding enables us to continue our 100-year old mission to care for our community’s children in need,” said Children’s President and CEO Bertram Lubin, MD.

"We are especially grateful to Congresswoman Barbara Lee; Alex Briscoe, Director of Alameda County Health Care Services Agency; and Alameda County Supervisors Keith Carson and Wilma Chan for their support of Children’s mission and work in the County,” said Dr. Lubin.

The $2,413,505 Building Capacity Growing grant will be used to renovate and expand Children’s Hospital & Research Center Oakland’s Primary Care Clinic, the busiest pediatric clinic in Alameda County with more than 30,000 visits each year. The Primary Care Clinic is located in an aging facility with limited space. The planned renovation will nearly double the number of exam rooms and allow for pediatric subspecialists to see patients within the clinic.

Children’s Hospital & Research Center Oakland’s Primary Care clinic is the only pediatric hospital-based clinic in the United States designated as a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC). In return for serving all patients regardless of ability to pay, FQHCs receive consideration from the Federal government in the form of cost-based reimbursement for their Medicaid patients, and free malpractice coverage.

Children’s Hospital Oakland will be able to create a comprehensive “medical home” in the Primary Care clinic by bringing subspecialists into the clinic to examine patients. The Primary Care Clinic’s patient population is primarily covered by MediCal (government insurance). This population has challenges with long wait times for appointments and having to travel far for care because of the lack of specialists who accept MediCal reimbursement.  By providing space for specialists to see patients within the Primary Care Clinic, patients will be able to receive most of their care in one place and primary care pediatricians and specialists can provide better and more coordinated care.

The $500,000 Immediate Facility Improvement Project grant will be used to renovate Children’s Teen Clinic and Center for the Vulnerable Child. The Teen Clinic sees approximately 1,300 patients per year and provides comprehensive medical and mental health services for teenagers.

The Center for the Vulnerable Child is the only clinic in the country dedicated to caring for homeless children including those in foster care. Approximately 3,000 children and families receive medical care, psychotherapy, and social services through the Center for the Vulnerable Child each year. The expansion of this building will allow for the clinics to serve more children and provide more services.

MEDIA CONTACT:
Erin Goldsmith
Media Relations Manager
510-428-3069


About Children’s Hospital & Research Center Oakland
Children’s Hospital & Research Center Oakland is Northern California’s only independent not-for-profit regional medical center for children. Children’s Hospital Oakland is a national leader in many pediatric specialties and sub-specialties including hematology/oncology, neonatology, cardiology, orthopedics, sports medicine, and neurosurgery. The hospital is one of only two solely designated California Level 1 pediatric trauma centers with the largest pediatric inpatient critical care unit in the region. Children’s Hospital has 190 licensed beds, 201 hospital-based physicians in 30 specialties, more than 2,700 employees, and an annual operating budget of more than $350 million. Children’s is also a premier teaching hospital with an outstanding pediatric residency program and unique pediatric subspecialty fellowship programs.

Children’s research program, Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute (CHORI), is internationally renowned for taking state-of-the-art basic and clinical research and translating it into interventions for treating and preventing human diseases. CHORI has 300 members of its investigative staff, a budget of about $50 million, and is ranked among the nation’s top 10 research centers in National Institutes of Health funding to children’s hospitals. For more information, go to www.childrenshospitaloakland.org and www.chori.org.

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