Monday, July 24, 2006

WASHINGTON- U.S. Senators Judd Gregg and John Sununu (R-NH) today announced that the Senate Appropriations Committee approved $800,000 in federal funding for two New Hampshire health initiatives through a Fiscal Year 2007 funding measure. The measure includes $500,000 for Elliot Hospital and the Visiting Nurses Association (VNA) of Manchester and Southern New Hampshire and $300,000 for Community Health Centers throughout New Hampshire. The funding was included in the Labor, Health and Human Services Appropriations bill, which is now ready for consideration by the full Senate later this year. Details for each project are included below.

Senator Gregg, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee and the Labor-HHS Subcommittee, stated, “Increasing access to quality health care and community health centers is critical. These funds will assist the nine Community Health Centers in underserved areas to make sure that uninsured individual and families have access to health care and necessary treatments. The funding for Elliot Hospital and the VNA will assist nurses and doctors in monitoring patients through innovative telemedicine, allowing them to track each patient’s progress and vital signs through monitors placed in the patient’s home and transmitted back to the medical professionals without requiring the patients to leave their homes. Additionally, these funds will assist in improving the electronic medical records system by developing clinical tools to standardize practices and provide for long-term care. I commend Bi-State Primary Care and the VNA for all they do to ensure that all Granite State residents have access to quality health care.”

“These resources will help ensure the continued delivery of high quality, cost-effective health care to thousands of individuals and families who utilize medical services at our states’ Community Health Centers and at Elliot Hospital and the Manchester Visiting Nurses Association,” said Sununu, who received the ‘2006 Community Health Defender Award’ from the National Association of Community Health Centers. “Community Health Centers throughout New Hampshire are often the first line of defense for the low-income and uninsured, and this funding helps allow further access to medical care to those who are most in need. Funding for Elliot Hospital and the Manchester Visiting Nurses provides them with the opportunity to expand their mission through the use of telemedic technology, which allows care providers to monitor patients at home through the transmission of medical information (heart rate, temperature, and pulse) directly over phone lines or wireless technology.”

Doug Dean, CEO/President of Elliot Health System (EHS), stated, “The appropriations funding will be used for EHS electronic medical record (EMR) initiative and Telemedicine by Visiting Nurse Association of Manchester and Southern NH. The appropriation will help to improve great Manchester community quality of care, increase healthcare access and reduce cost. Elliot Health System is grateful to Senators Gregg and Sununu for support and assistance in securing the funding.”

Tess Kuenning, Execute Director of Bi-State Primary Care stated, “As the Executive Director of Bi-State Primary Care Association, a private, non-profit membership organization representing 30 organizations in VT and NH that provide or support community-based primary care services for the medically underserved, it is with enormous delight that Senators Gregg and Sununu have worked hard in Congress to support NH Community Health Centers (CHCs). CHCs are a model of primary and preventive medical and dental health care delivery owned and operated by the community, which serve everyone regardless of their ability to pay. In NH, there are 13 CHCs serving over 90,000 patients. Senators Gregg and Sununu have been extremely supportive of legislation that support and strengthen the CHC health care safety net for the poor and disadvantaged. With their leadership, they have helped to expand health care access to millions of uninsured and medically underserved Americans. Their work has helped the 15 million people who rely on health centers nationally for their health care and the millions more who need them. Indeed, we are very grateful for their support of CHCs.”

$500,000- Elliot Hospital and Visiting Nurses Association of Manchester and Southern NH-

$300,000 in funding will allow the VNA and Elliot Hospital to improve their electronic medical records system to assist with standardizing clinical practice and decreasing health care costs through long-term strategic disease management programs. $200,000 will go towards the VNA’s telemedicine initiative to enhance the ability to monitor those involved in these disease management programs. Through this funding, 25 field devices will be placed in patients’ homes allowing medical professionals to monitor each patient’s vital information from outside the home. Additionally it will provide for software, training and information technology support.

$300,000 - NH Community Health Centers-

These funds will service nine non-profit New Hampshire Community Health Centers in medically underserved areas, providing comprehensive primary and preventative health care regardless of a patient’s ability to pay. The funds will help to address the increasing number of patients without health insurance seen at these centers. The following health centers will benefit for this award: Ammonoosuc Community Health Services; Avis Goodwin Community Heath Center; Coos County Family Health Services; Family First Health and Support Center; Health First Family Care Center; Healthcare for the Homeless Project; Lamprey Health Care; Manchester Community Health Center; and White Mountain Community Health Center.