Community Health Center Advocacy

Federally-qualified health centers like Hudson Headwaters Health Network are the first line of defense against COVID-19.

• Hudson Headwaters is the largest provider of COVID-19 testing in the Adirondacks and North Country. We provide drive-thru, curbside, and walk-up testing at all 21 of our sites, delivering more than 1,000 COVID-19 tests per week.
• Our providers have adapted quickly to the public health emergency, expanding telemedicine capabilities to safely screen patients, and provide care.
• Hudson Headwaters also provides treatment for individuals who are not sick enough to require emergency care, reducing demands — both clinical and financial — on hospitals and emergency departments.
• When non-acute patients test positive for COVID-19, we can connect them to affordable primary care and support services, including housing and food assistance.
• Once an effective COVID-19 vaccine is available, Hudson Headwaters will also be one of the largest immunization providers in the region.

Federally-qualified health centers like Hudson Headwaters Health Network are critical to bridging care gaps for newly uninsured individuals.

• Due to the financial impact of COVID-19 on individuals, families, and communities, millions of people have lost their jobs. As people lose their jobs, they will also lose their employer-sponsored health insurance and increasingly turn to health centers like Hudson Headwaters for essential care.
• Access to primary care is especially critical to rural communities across the U.S., places where COVID-19 can quickly and easily spread out of control, exacerbated by hospital closures and a long travel distance between providers.

Federally-qualified health centers like Hudson Headwaters Health Network need funding and support to do the job that federal and state governments have asked them to do, including:

• $9.6 billion in additional emergency Covid-19 funding to ensure health centers like Hudson Headwaters have the resources they need to keep their doors open and continue to care for the community during this pandemic.
• $41.9 billion over five years in mandatory federal funding to provide long-term stability for health centers and support and expand primary care access for underserved patients and communities.
• $20 billion over five years to support critical infrastructure investments, enabling centers to make needed upgrades to existing facilities and adjust to the changing Covid-19 requirements;
• $7.8 billion over five years to support the expansion of workforce programs to address the growing shortfall of our nation’s primary care health care workers, particularly in rural areas
• Extension of the federal and state Public Health Emergency for as long as the pandemic continues to impact the community.
• Permanent expansion of the authority allowing Hudson Headwaters to provide telehealth services and appropriate payment for these services.
• Protection of the 340B Prescription Drug Program so that savings continue to flow directly to health centers like Hudson Headwaters, allowing them to support core programs and services, offer medication discounts and financial assistance programs and expand services into underserved communities.

We need your help.

Politicians nationwide have been talking about why it’s essential to restart the economy. What better way to do so than to fund Federally-Community Health Centers like Hudson Headwaters fully? We need Congress to help ensure that Community Health Centers across the country keep their doors open. We need the resources to respond to the latest surge and growing demand for COVID-19 testing and care, plan for the distribution of a vaccine and prepare for the increased need for primary care that will occur once this crisis is over.

Please contact your Congressional representatives and asking them to support Federally-Community Health Centers like Hudson Headwaters. You can also contact your state-level representatives ask them to reach out to New York’s Congressional Delegation urging them to push for the much needed federal- and state-level investments listed above.

Tweet/post on Social Media using #ValueCHCs and tag your Members of Congress.

Like many non-profit, safety-net providers, Hudson Headwaters relies upon the 340B Prescription Drug Program to offset the costs of providing high-quality healthcare to everyone who needs it.

Enacted by Congress in 1992, this program allows organizations like Hudson Headwaters to buy prescription drugs at significantly reduced prices. When 340B-discounted drugs are prescribed to eligible patients of Hudson Headwaters, the Network is allowed to keep the difference between the discounted purchase price and the reimbursement rate

Hudson Headwaters and other federally-qualified health centers in New York use these savings to help low-income, uninsured, or underinsured patients afford their medication and provide more comprehensive healthcare services to the communities we serve, including:

• Supporting core programs and services consistent with our mission, such as dental care, patient and student education, home-based care, obstetrics and gynecology, palliative care, and phlebotomy.
• Offering medication discounts and other financial assistance programs for patients living at or below 200% of the federal poverty level.
• Address social determinants such as food, housing, transportation and other issues that significantly impact health.
• Fund infrastructure improvements and renovation of facilities.
• Expand services into underserved communities that otherwise have limited access to care.

Unfortunately, the 340B program is currently under attack at the state and federal level. Many wealthy drug manufacturers also refuse to provide 340B discounts to community health centers that contract with private pharmacies, while demanding access to your private information.

These threats will cost Hudson Headwaters millions of dollars annually. Community health centers across the US will have to make devastating cuts to critical programs to remain solvent.

We need your help.

Call your representatives in the New York State Assembly and Senate and ask them to support Assembly Bill A10960 (Gottfried) and Senate Bill S8948 (Rivera). These bills would delay Governor Cuomo’s plan to siphon the Medicaid pharmacy benefit from community health centers.

Call your representatives in the US House of Representatives and Senate and ask them to support legislation giving the federal Health Resources and Services Administration the authority to force drug manufacturers to provide legally-mandated 340B discounts to community health centers.

Tweet/post on Social Media using #ValueCHCs and tag your Members of Congress.

New York Congressional Delegation and Contact Information:

Senator Charles (Chuck) Schumer (Democrat, Senior Senator)
Leo O’Brien Building, Room 420
11A Clinton Ave.
Albany, NY 12207
Phone: (518) 431-4070
Fax: (518) 431-4076
Electronic letters can be submitted online at https://www.schumer.senate.gov/

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (Democrat, Junior Senator)
Leo O’Brien Building, Room 420
11A Clinton Ave.
Albany, NY 12207
Phone: (518) 431-0120
Fax: (518) 431-0128
Electronic letters can be submitted online at https://www.gillibrand.senate.gov/

Representative Elise Stefanik (Republican, 21^st Congressional District)
Glens Falls Office                                                              Plattsburgh Office
5 Warren Street, Suite 4                                                137 Margaret Street, Suite 100
Glens Falls, NY 12801                                                     Plattsburgh, NY 12901
Phone: (518) 743-0964                                                   Phone: (518) 561-2324
Fax: (518) 743-1391                                                         Fax: (518) 561-2408

Electronic letters can be submitted online at https://stefanik.house.gov/

New York State Legislators and Contact Information:

Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner (Democrat, Assembly District 113)
112 Spring Street, Suite 205
Saratoga Springs, NY 12866
Phone: 518-584-5493
Fax: 518-584-5496
Email: woernerc@nyassembly.gov

Electronic letters can also be submitted online at https://nyassembly.gov/mem/Carrie-Woerner/contact/

Assemblyman-Elect Matt Simpson (Republican, Assembly District 114)
P.O. Box 324
Brant Lake, NY 12815
Phone: 518-361-1075
Email: matt@simpsonforassembly.com
Contact Information to be Updated at Start of Next Legislative Session

Assemblyman D. Billy Jones (Democrat, Assembly District 115)
202 U.S. Oval
Plattsburgh, NY 12903
Phone: 518-562-1986
Email: jonesb@nyassembly.gov

Electronic letters can also be submitted online at https://nyassembly.gov/mem/Billy-Jones/contact/

Assemblyman Robert Smullen (Republican, Assembly District 118)
41 East Main Street
Room 108 City Hall
Johnstown, NY 12095
Phone: 518-762-1427
Fax: 518-762-9871
Email: smullenr@nyassembly.gov

Electronic letters can also be submitted online at https://nyassembly.gov/mem/Robert-Smullen/contact/

Senator-Elect Dan Stec (Republican, Senate District 45)
140 Glen Street
Glens Falls, NY 12801
Phone: 518-792-4546
Email: stecd@nyassembly.gov

Electronic letters can also be submitted online at https://nyassembly.gov/mem/Dan-Stec/contact/

 Contact Information to be Updated at Start of Next Legislative Session

If you are not sure who your representative in New York State Assembly is, you can use the handy address-based search tool available online at https://nyassembly.gov/mem/search/