Several clinics in Maine, Nebraska, Illinois and Michigan have also been unable to draw down funds from the federally run website they use to access the money, according to Advocates for Community Health, an advocacy group for community health centers.
“While we don’t have an answer for the reasoning behind it, we do know that health centers cannot afford to wait, and it is critical that Congress and [the Health Resources and Services Administration] get to the bottom of it,” said Amanda Pears Kelly, CEO at Advocates for Community Health. “Health centers in Virginia have already been forced to close their doors and cancel patient appointments this week because they are unable to access payments, and we fear that more closures and furloughs are on the way.”