HealthNet lands $10.5 million in stimulus funds

HealthNet Inc., a network of Indiana health care centers, will receive $10.5 million in federal stimulus money, the White
House announced Wednesday.

The funds are part of a $600 million infusion through the American Recovery and Reinvestment
Act to fund projects at 85 community health centers.

HealthNet said it will use the funds to expand and renovate two
community health centers that have outgrown their space. The organization plans to build a new People’s Health &
Dental Center at 2340 E. 10th St., and to renovate and expand Barrington Health Center, at 3401 E. Raymond St.

HealthNet
said the two centers serve more than 14,300 patients each year, but will be able to care for an additional 7,200 patients
after the expansions. The projects, it said, are expected to provide 78 construction-related and six health care jobs.

HealthNet operates five community-based health centers, one OB/GYN care center, a pediatric and adolescent care center,
and eight school-based clinics. It provides health services to more than 47,000 uninsured and underinsured individuals annually.

President Obama said the stimulus funds would help the push to transfer medical records to electronic formats and
add jobs to a struggling economy. Officials also linked it to the administration’s broader push for an overhaul of the nation’s
health system.

The administration plans to give almost $509 million to repair, rebuild or replace federally designated
community health centers. From coast to coast, the centers serve more than 17 million patients — about 40 percent of
whom have no health insurance.

The president also said as much as $88 million more will go to health care facilities
to "transfer old paper files to electronic medical records" and to upgrade technologies.

"These
investments won’t just increase efficiency and lower costs," Obama said Wednesday, flanked by members of Congress and
addressing community health leaders. "They’ll improve the quality of care as well, preventing countless medical errors
and allowing providers to spend less time with paperwork and more time with patients."

Obama also signed a
memo directing Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to begin a three-year trial on how to improve care for
Medicare patients at community health centers.

"But we don’t just want our health centers to provided more
care for more patients. We want them to provide better care as well," Obama said.

The administration anticipates
as many as 500 health centers would participate.

"Because community health centers already provide comprehensive
health care to people who face the greatest barriers to accessing care, these demonstration projects have the potential to
support and improve the care delivered not only to Medicare beneficiaries, but also to others who rely on community health
centers for primary care," Sebelius said in a statement.

Lawmakers included $2 billion to expand health services
to low-income and uninsured Americans. Almost half has been spent already.

"One of the first investments we
made through the Recovery Act was in supporting our nation’s community health centers, and today we build on that progress
by funding new construction and improvement projects at more than 80 facilities nationwide," Vice President Joe Biden
said in a statement. "This is what the Recovery Act is all about: providing immediate assistance for hard-hit families,
improving our nation’s infrastructure and creating new opportunities for stable, well-paid work."