The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced on February 9 its allocations of $750 million in FY 2011 grant opportunities under the Prevention and Public Health Fund. This fund was created by the Affordable Care Act (ACA). It disbursed $500 million in federal grants in FY 2010 and will disburse $15 billion over ten years, mainly through state and local governments. For FY 2011, HHS is allocating $298 million to community prevention grant opportunities that include $222 million for state and local initiatives to promote evidence-based intervention strategies targeting conditions such as heart disease, stroke, and cancer; $182 million in clinical prevention grants that include $70 million to integrate primary care into publicly funded community mental health programs; $137 million in public health infrastructure grants that include $52 million to build state and local capacity to detect and respond immediately to infectious disease outbreaks; and $133 million for research and tracking such as monitoring the impact of grant funding on access, utilization, and health outcomes. The greatest increase for FY 2011 is in the $222 million targeting chronic diseases, which had been $45 million in FY 2010. States winning major grants under the Prevention and Public Health Fund since enactment of the ACA include California ($42.7 million), New York ($34.6 million), Massachusetts ($24.3 million), and Florida ($22.0 million).  

About Tom Entrikin

A former policy specialist with the U.S. Health Care Financing Administration (now Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)), Tom Entrikin has vast experience providing technical assistance to states on Medicaid eligibility, coverage, and reimbursement; provider certification and enrollment; program integrity; recovery of third party liabilities; Medicaid Management Information System (MMIS) performance specifications and operations; interagency agreements; contracts with managed care organizations; and Medicaid waiver programs.

Read more