Thursday, April 3, 2025
4/3/2025
Evara Health Family Planning Program - Project Title: Title X Family Planning Services Applicant Name: Community Health Centers of Pinellas, Inc. D.B.A. Evara Health Address: 14100 58th St N, Clearwater, FL 33760-9900 Contact Phone Numbers: Edward P. Kucher, COO; Phone: 727-824-8100; Fax: 727-895-3762 E-Mail Address: epkucher@hcnetwork.org; Website Address: www.evarahealth.org Congressional Districts: Applicant: FL-012, FL-013 Project: FL-012, FL-013 Community Health Centers of Pinellas, Inc., D.B.A. Evara Health (Evara), is a not-for-profit Federally Qualified Health Center and certified Patient-Centered Medical and Dental Home that has been providing affordable, primary health care services to the residents of Pinellas County, Florida for over 40 years. Evara Health provides care to the underserved, uninsured, and underinsured, regardless of their ability to pay. Services include family and pediatric medicine, OB/GYN, dental, chiropractic, osteopathic manipulative medicine, mental and behavioral health, pharmacy, nutrition, podiatry, substance use disorder prevention, case management, food pharmacy, healthcare navigation, and other enabling services. Evara Health’s mission is to innovate beyond the barriers that limit access to quality healthcare, ensuring everyone can receive industry-leading services from professional teams that care as much as family. Evara Health has been a Title X grantee since 2018. In 2020, Evara provided 8,835 encounters to 5,432 unduplicated Title X Family Planning patients, of which 67% were minorities, 81% below the poverty level, and 32% uninsured. According to the Guttmacher Institute’s tool for estimating the health benefits of publicly funding Family Planning programs, Evara Health’s Title X services in 2020 assisted in preventing approximately 1,070 unintended pregnancies and 510 unplanned births, with a net savings of over $5,000,000 in maternal and birth-related costs. Yet there is still a need to address reproductive health among the high-risk populations of Pinellas County which is identified as a Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA) with several Medically Underserved Populations and Areas (MUP/A.). The rate of chlamydia continues to increase, and the County is deemed an HIV hot spot. The percent of births to unwed Black mothers is more than double the rate of unwed White mothers. The same trend is found for the percent of live births with low birth rate. The rate of infant deaths for Blacks is almost 3 times the rate of Whites as is the rate of births to mothers ages 15-19. These factors demonstrate the strong need for equitable family planning and reproductive health services in Pinellas County. Evara Health is applying for $875,000 in funding to support the provision of Title X Family Planning services to 8,100 individual patients annually. Through this application, Evara Health seeks to continue serving the reproductive health needs of Pinellas County, Florida’s high-risk population while expanding access to two additional locations (one of which directly serves those with substance abuse needs and those lacking stable housing.) This funding will support reproductive life planning, family planning education and counseling, contraceptives, STI testing, vaccines, PrEP services, cancer screenings, pregnancy services, and women's and men's primary healthcare targeted to the low-income population. This provision of care will lead to healthier outcomes for the most vulnerable populations.
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).