Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that, to maintain the health care safety net, Federally Qualified Health Centers should continue to operate under their longstanding single patient definition for delivery of all services, including prescription drugs.

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that, to maintain the health care safety net, Federally Qualified Health Centers should continue to operate under their longstanding single patient definition for delivery of all services, including prescription drugs.

Whereas nearly 1,400 Federally Qualified Health Centers (referred to in this preamble as “health centers”) form the backbone of the health care safety net, serving more than 32 million medically underserved Americans at more than 16,000 sites;

Whereas health centers play an essential role in meeting our Nation’s moral commitment to maintain a strong health care safety net;

Whereas health centers provide high-quality, affordable care to 1 in 8 children in the United States, 1 in 5 rural residents, and more than 25 million individuals who are enrolled in Medicare or Medicaid or are uninsured;

Whereas approximately 90 percent of health center patients have incomes at or below 200 percent of the Federal poverty line;

Whereas the Health Resources and Services Administration has long applied a single definition of a health center patient, currently stated as “an individual who has at least one countable visit during the calendar year in one or more categories of services: medical, dental, mental health, substance use disorder, vision, other professional, or enabling”;

Whereas this single patient definition minimizes administrative costs and maximizes the effectiveness of health centers, thereby strengthening the health care safety net for every health center patient;

Whereas imposing conflicting, service-specific patient definitions would restrict the services covered by this definition, forcing health centers to deny patients access to the full range of health care services and damaging the safety net for millions of Americans;

Whereas, consistent with the role health centers play in providing patients a full range of services, Congress has supported the patient-centered medical home model so that patients receive coordinated care involving multiple providers without losing their relationship with their primary care provider;

Whereas service-specific patient definitions conflict with the purposes of section 330 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 254b), a key part of the legal foundation of the health care safety net, and undermine the coordinated care that the patient-centered medical home model is designed to provide;

Whereas prescription drugs play an increasingly important role in improving the health and quality of life of Americans, yet 6 in 10 adults in the United States worry about being able to afford their prescription drug costs;

Whereas, recognizing the essential role of prescription drugs in health care, Congress established the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program and the 340B Drug Pricing Program to help ensure that the health care safety net can provide patients with access to affordable prescription drugs;

Whereas the stated purpose of the 340B Drug Pricing Program is to enable covered entities to “stretch scarce Federal resources as far as possible, reaching more eligible patients and providing more comprehensive services”; and

Whereas any restriction on the ability of health centers to provide 340B drugs to all of their patients threatens the health care safety net: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the House of Representatives affirms that, given the essential role of Federally Qualified Health Centers in the health care safety net, such health centers should continue to operate under their longstanding, single patient definition for all services, including drugs purchased under the 340B Drug Pricing Program, to ensure that their patients have access to the full range of health care services.