Monday, May 5, 2025
5/5/2025
Fiscal Year 2025 Expanded Hours. - Grant #: H80CS00767 Teche Action Board, Inc., d/b/a Teche Action Clinic (TAC), a 501(c)3, non-profit corporation headquartered in Franklin, LA, has been providing primary and preventive health care services as a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) since 1974. TAC provides high quality, community responsive, comprehensive primary and preventive health care services to low-income, medically underserved, uninsured and underinsured populations in St. Mary, Assumption, Lafourche, Terrebonne, St. John and St. James Parishes, regardless of patients’ ability to pay. TAC currently operates 15 FQHC sites (9 primary care locations and 6 school-based sites). TAC’s Service Area population is 314,269 and comprised of White (62%), African American (29%), Native American (3%) and Asian/Other/Unreported (1%). In terms of ethnicity, 5% are Hispanic and 95% Non-Hispanic. Within that service area population, 44% or 136,682 of the service area target population are categorized as low income, uninsured and underserved residents; a 16.99% poverty rate (below 100% FPL), 37.32% being low-income (below 200% FPL) and 6.8% are uninsured. Additionally, 6.8% of the population are not employed and 52% of the uninsured population are living below 200% of the federal poverty level. The health disparities within TAC’s patient population are pervasive: 19.58% of the population have a disability; 58% of adults are obese; 15.72% are 65 and older, 34% of target population were identified as smokers; 26% of population adults are binge drinkers; and the age-adjusted mortality rate is 854.7/100,000. In TAC’s service area, health indicators reveal that low socioeconomic and minority populations are statistically at greater risk and are in greater need of comprehensive primary care services. The medically disenfranchised community members face disparities in their ability to access primary and preventative health care. Amongst the service area population, 16.26% of adults have delayed care due to cost and 19.85% of adults do not have a usual source of care. Ultimately, the toll of these unmet needs is steep, from higher death and disease rates to widespread health disparities. TAC is submitting this current funding application seeking funding under the Fiscal Year 2025 Expanded Hours opportunity to increase access to affordable, equitable, comprehensive primary care and preventative health care services to meet the needs of our patients and the communities that we serve. Based on our internal needs assessments, we will specifically focus on expanding care by increasing hours of operation at our clinics located in St. Mary and Terrebonne Parishes, which account for 56.22% of our service area target population in these parishes. These parishes have a high rate of individuals with disabilities, unemployment, high poverty, and transportation challenges. 25.8% of St. Mary Parish residents and 20.6% of Terrebonne parish residents are self-reported to have poor health. The preventable hospitalization rates are 3,002/100,000 in St. Mary parish and 3,577/100,000 in Terrebonne parish both higher than the national average of 2,752/100,000. The intention of this funding is to support the expansion of our services to increase the ability of patients to access our medical, behavioral health, and pharmacy services during extended operating hours, which will include weekday evenings and weekends. TAC seeks to recruit and hire additional medical and behavioral health staff, as well as administrative support staff to support an integrated primary care and behavioral health care model. With the expansion of hours, we seek to improve the quality of care through ease of access, encourage care in a primary care setting, reduce health care costs, and reduce hospital emergency department visits. Improving access to care, eliminating disparities, and improving the quality of life for the medically underserved is the continuing commitment that TAC has made to the communities it serves.
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).