Area health departments to share $13M in special funding

The grants must be used for infrastructure improvements to enhance delivery of services. Eligible uses include the purchase of information technology equipment, communication services, transportation improvements, health-related educational programs or renovations to improve client services.

The money cannot be used for operational, staffing or travel costs, or other overhead expenses.

“At a time when Missouri’s health departments are struggling with reduced funding, their annual budgets often barely cover the cost of meeting the agencies’ critical community health responsibilities,” said MFH President and CEO Dr. James Kimmey, in a news release. “A health department can quickly find itself with outdated computers, telephones and diagnostic equipment, worn-out transportation vehicles and offices and examination rooms in disrepair, and with no way to address those problems except to redirect funds from health care services.”

MFH has announced that each health department is eligible for a base grant of $50,000 plus at least $2 per area resident based on 2005 population data. Individual grants are expected to range from $58,000 to more than $2 million.

All departments within MFH’s service area are eligible to apply. The organization’s service area comprises 75 percent of the state, excluding west-central and northwest Missouri.

Initial grant disbursements are expected before the end of the year, and depending on the size of the individual grants, they will be made over one, two or three years.

The $13 million represents the largest single funding effort to date for MFH, a nongovernmental provider of funding for community health activities. The organization provides $60 million annually to nonprofit and governmental health organizations that serve uninsured, underinsured and underserved.