NONPROFIT
REFUELING THE FUND
2003
2011
2022
The Texas Legislature passes Senate Bill 610 establishing the Federally Quali ed Health Center Incubator Grant Program.
The incubator program is defunded as a result of Texas’ budget de cit.
Texas Department of State Health Services is slated to open applications for grant funds.
TOMAGWA HealthCare Ministries is hoping to receive funding from the state’s incubator grant program for new health centers after funding was restored in 2021.
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2003-09
2021
SOURCE: TEXAS ASSOCIATION OF COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTERS COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
The Legislature adds $20 million to the incubator program from federal COVID-19 relief.
The number of patients served by FQHCs increases 65% as a result of the incubator program.
Legislature adds $20M to grant program slated to help TOMAGWA TOMAGWA HealthCare Ministries, a safety net clinic serving the Tomball, Magnolia and Waller area, is in the process of transitioning to a federally quali ed health center, a designation that will allow is tremendous cost associated with going through this process,” Simmons said. “[This process is] administrative heavy, which is not how we’re used to operating. These costs are above what we can raise, especially in the current economy.” BY ANNA LOTZ number of people being served in Texas,” she said. The TACHC gave state Rep. Tom Oliverson, R Cy- press, an award in May for championing funding. “These FQHCs are frontline in a lot of our
communities in the ght against COVID[-19], and it just makes sense to grow them and to create more of them,” he said in an interview. The Texas Department of State Health Services had not yet opened grant applications as of early June. Eubank said she plans to advocate for more funding in the upcoming legislative session. “We did a survey just with our existing commu- nity health centers, and they reported to us that there’s over $200 million of need,” Eubank said. “As great as it is that we got $20 million, it’s going to be gone in a blink.”
TOMAGWA has been working toward the FQHC designation since 2020. Depending on when state grant applications open, Simmons said TOMAGWA could have its designation by the end of the year. Eubank said the incubator program was established in 2003 to provide seed money to help new and existing health centers compete for federal grants. “Between 2003 and 2009, we were able to increase the number of patients served by 65%, so it really helped signi cantly increase the number of health centers and the services being o ered and the
the clinic more funding and robust services. As the transition is costly, TOMAGWA hopes to receive funds from Texas’ FQHC incubator grant program, CEO Timika Simmons said. The Legislature approved $20 million for the program out of the state’s $16 billion in American Rescue Plan Act funds in 2021, said Jana Eubank, executive director of the Texas Association of Com- munity Health Centers; the program had previously been defunded in 2011 amid Texas’ budget de cit. “The incubator funding is essential because there
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TOMBALL MAGNOLIA EDITION • JUNE 2022
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