Thursday, November 21, 2024
11/21/2024
Community Health Centers of Pinellas, Inc. DBA Evara Health (Evara), is a not-for-profit Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) which has been providing affordable, primary health care services to the residents of Pinellas County, Florida for over 40 year. Evara operates fourteen (14) health centers throughout Pinellas County, providing comprehensive healthcare services to low-income, uninsured, and underserved populations. In 2021, Evara served 61,539 patients with more than 214,000 visits for medical, dental, enabling, and ancillary services. Premier Community HealthCare Group, Inc. (Premier) is an FQHC which has been providing comprehensive primary, preventive, and supplemental health services to medically underserved and uninsured populations of Pasco County, Florida since 1979. A recent All4HealthFL Collaborative’s community health needs assessment showed that access to healthcare and mental health problems including suicide are the number one health concern in Pinellas County with illegal drug use being the top risky behavior and access to health care in the top three quality of life issues. The opioid crisis and increase in depression rate due to the COVID-19 public health emergency has further widened the gap between community needs and current provider capacity. Evara and Premier propose two construction projects that will result in increased access to vital mental health, behavioral health, substance use disorder, along with comprehensive primary, preventive and supplemental care for the residents of Pinellas and Pasco Counties, Florida. The proposed project in Pinellas will include renovation of the first floor of the existing Highpoint Health Center, construction of a second floor above the renovated area and the expansion of the existing parking lot to accommodate increased capacity of the building. The 15,000 square feet of newly constructed/renovated space will address the behavioral health needs of the underserved population , in addition to increasing access to physical therapy, sports medicine, podiatry and optometry services. It is estimated that a minimum of 5,280 patients will be provided 15,840 visits in the newly constructed space during the first full year of operations. The proposed project in Pasco will construct a new 23,832 square foot health center facility to address the acute needs in the community including behavioral health, substance use disorder, primary care and supplemental health services. It is estimated that a minimum of 6,050 patients will be provided 21,150 visits during the first full year of operations. The operation of new facilities will be integrated into the existing networks of two FQHCs and closely coordinated with other mental health and substance use disorder service providers for the target population. The locations for the new service sites were selected based on the documented needs of Pasco and Pinellas Counties, including factors of Social Determinants of Health. The proposed program is a long-term investment in the health care infrastructure of Pasco and Pinellas Counties.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).
