Pennsylvania: Mazzoni Center Gets $80K From Fed

The Mazzoni Center, Philadelphia's LGBT health and wellness facility, is beginning the yearlong process of pursuing its bid to becoming a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC), a status that will allow it to expand services. Using an $80,000 grant recently awarded by the federal Department of Health and Human Services, Mazzoni will conduct an assessment of regional health care needs, patient demographics, provider and patient perceptions of care, and service gaps.

"This status allows an organization to receive funds from the federal government that go toward specialty care for the uninsured, toward payments for practitioners, and for infrastructure for the organization," said Nurit Shein, Mazzoni's executive director. "So should Mazzoni receive FQHC designation, we would have the ability to expand our practice and provide better care for those 30 percent-40 percent of LGBT uninsured people that we serve."

The FQHC designation also will allow Mazzoni to contract with other providers to offer patients specialty care not currently available at the center, Shein said.

"Should we receive the status, we'll definitely see an increased capacity in the number of clinicians and in our space," Shein said. The center already is adding six new exam rooms; if it achieves FQHC status, more space, doctors, and nurses could be needed in the future, Shein said.

For more on Mazzoni Center, visit http://mazzonicenter.org/.

Back to other news for September 2011