State Opens $25 Million in Grants for Community Health Centers to Keep Treating Patients Who Lose Coverage

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND — Community health centers that care for people without insurance can apply for a share of $25 million in one-year state grants meant to keep those patients in routine primary care as federal changes are expected to leave more Marylanders uninsured.

The Maryland Health Care Commission opened applications Oct. 16. Federally qualified health centers, community health centers that meet federal program requirements and serve patients regardless of ability to pay, are eligible statewide. Choptank Community Health System, which operates the Easton Health Center and the Bay Hundred Medical and Dental Center in St. Michaels, describes itself on its website as a federally qualified health center serving Talbot and four other Shore counties. Local health departments with approved partnering organizations qualify only in Carroll and Calvert counties, the two counties with no such centers, under the commission's request for applications.

The money is meant to give people who lose coverage a regular place for primary care, including acute visits, chronic disease management and behavioral health services, instead of the emergency room, the commission says. Grantees would be paid a monthly amount of $150 to $250 for each eligible uninsured patient who receives a covered service. To count, a patient must be uninsured with no other way to pay and have an acute or chronic condition.

Applications are due by 5 p.m. Nov. 9. The commission plans a webinar for applicants Oct. 27 from 11 a.m. to noon and expects to announce awards in early December. The grant period runs from Jan. 1 through Dec. 31, 2027.

The one-time $25 million was approved by the Health Services Cost Review Commission on July 22. Choptank Health's Easton Health Center can be reached at 410-770-8910 and Bay Hundred at 410-745-0200.