ACH CEO Amanda Pears Kelly was interviewed by reporter Megan Wilson for The Washington Post’s Health Brief on the impacts of the federal government shutdown. The Health Center Program funding lapsed on September 30, 2025. Wilson writes:
Community health centers operate on such thin profit margins, said Amanda Pears Kelly, the chief executive of Advocates for Community Health, adding: “Anytime there’s a situation where a lever gets pulled or a string gets pulled, something else is going to fall. They’re just not in a position where they can continue to bear the strain and the tension of the unpredictability.”
Although she said that some of the group’s members have been able to draw on existing program funds, the uncertainty of when — and at what level — the program will be replenished is already having an impact:
- Banks have declined to provide funds to facilities to expand services they’d already lined up “because they’re looking at the environment and saying, ‘I don’t know that that’s a sound investment,’” she said. “I’ve already talked to multiple organizations where lenders are saying, ‘No, we’re not going to go ahead with [funding] whatever the proposal or the plan was.'”
- Some facilities are having to scale back services, which can vary depending on the organization. Maternal health services is one area that’s having to be dialed back in some cases because it is a “loss leader,” reimbursed at lower rates than it costs to provide. That’s particularly troubling “because a lot of our organizations are serving maternal health deserts.”
While some organizations may be threatened with closure, the overall issue of staff morale and the potential inability for some facilities to keep staff amid the financial uncertainty may have longer-lasting ripple effects on care, Pears Kelly said.”