An Act To Improve the Health of Maine Communities and Reduce Emergency Care Burdens

Sec. 1. Neighborhood health resource centers. The Department of Health and Human Services, Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention shall undertake a program to create neighborhood health resource centers in the Parkside or Bayside neighborhood of the City of Portland and in the City of Lewiston and shall provide additional funding for existing federally qualified health centers established under 42 United States Code, Section 1395x. subsection (aa) (4).

1. Collaboration. To the extent applicable to the Parkside or Bayside neighborhood in the City of Portland and to the City of Lewiston, the neighborhood health resource centers established pursuant to this Act shall include as collaborating partners neighborhood residents and leaders, a local hospital, a nursing program, a municipal health department or community-based organization that focuses on improving public health and a local housing authority or department.

2. Operation. A neighborhood health resource center established pursuant to this Act shall procure matching private or local funding to match the share of state funding available to the center. The center shall provide services through health professionals that include nurses, nurse practitioners, nursing students and a supervising registered nurse. The center shall provide health care services, including checking vitals, conducting home visits and providing chronic disease management and prevention. The center shall provide home visits as appropriate to the center and to the patients of the center. The center shall include administrative components that track the outcomes of patient care and evaluate the program, including the decreased use of emergency room services for nonemergency health care needs.

Sec. 2. Appropriations and allocations. The following appropriations and allocations are made.

HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, DEPARTMENT OF

Center for Disease Control and Prevention

Initiative: Appropriates $300,000 for neighborhood health resource centers in the Parkside or Bayside neighborhood of the City of Portland and in the City of Lewiston and for additional funding for federally qualified health centers to maximize the resources and collaborative opportunities available to them, with the goal of improving the health of the residents of their communities.

GENERAL FUND	2007-08	2008-09
All Other	$0	$300,000
GENERAL FUND TOTAL	$0	$300,000

summary

This bill directs the Department of Health and Human Services, Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention to undertake a program to create neighborhood health resource centers for the Parkside or Bayside neighborhood of the City of Portland and for the City of Lewiston. This bill appropriates $300,000 in fiscal year 2008-09 for the purposes of the neighborhood health resource centers and for federally qualified health centers.