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Ogden's Midtown Community Health Center has received nearly $4 million in federal grants to add space for 4,100 new patients.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sibelius announced Friday that the money coming to Utah is among the first in a series of $727 million awards to community health centers under the Affordable Care Act, a key provision of health care reforms enacted earlier this year by Congress and President Barack Obama.
Lisa Nichols, Midtown's executive director, said the capital grant will pay for a 10,000-square-foot addition to the clinic at 2240 Adams Ave.
"The plan is for 12 additional medical examination rooms and 10 additional dental chairs," Nichols said.
The grant means Midtown won't have to take on debt to finance the much-needed extra space or try to raise funds on its own, "which is essentially impossible in this economy," she said.
The health center has until 2012 to build the addition and will need more doctors and dentists to accommodate the new patients, Nichols said.
The Ogden health center was built about four years ago with $7 million in donations and was expected to fill the community's needs for up to seven years. Instead, demand exceeded available exam and treatment space in about two years.
Midtown Community Health centers now serve about 26,000 patients, about a third of whom are on Medicaid or have no health insurance.
Most patients pay $25 per visit; the cost of the care they receive, including prenatal visits, immunizations, diabetes management and cardiac care, is based on their ability to pay. Federal funding offsets the difference between what is charged and what the services cost.
"These services are desperately needed in our community," Nichols said.