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GAO-10-773R 1 (2010-06-30)

handle is hein.gao/gaobaanto0001 and id is 1 raw text is: i ~G A 0 Accountabilty I Integrity * Reliability United States Government Accountability Office Washington, DC 20548 June 30, 2010 The Honorable Edolphus Towns Chairman Committee on Oversight and Government Reform House of Representatives Subject: Hurricane Katrina: CMS and HRSA Assistance to Sustain Primary Care Gains in the Greater New Orleans Area Dear Chairman Towns, More than 4 years after Hurricane Katrina made landfall, the greater New Orleans area continues to face challenges restoring health care services disrupted by the storm and flooding that followed. Among many federal investments to help rebuild health care services in the area, in July 2007, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) awarded the $100-million Primary Care Access and Stabilization Grant (PCASG)' to the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals (LDHH). The PCASG was intended to restore and expand access to primary care services in the greater New Orleans area2 without regard to a patient's ability to pay. The grant provided short-term funding to outpatient provider organizations to help them take such actions as increasing staff, renovating clinics, and opening new clinic sites. Like many hurricane relief programs, the PCASG was designed to provide a temporary funding source-from July 23, 2007, through September 30, 2010. The PCASG grant is administered at the federal level by HHS's Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). The Louisiana Public Health Institute (LPHI) administers the PCASG for LDHH as its local partner;3 LDHH and LPHI received a small portion of the PCASG funds for their administrative and oversight costs. In 2007, LDHH provided grant funds to 25 provider organizations, which we refer to as PCASG-funded providers.4 For a 'This grant was made under a provision of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 authorizing payments to restore access to health care in communities affected by Hurricane Katrina. Pub. L. No. 109-171, § 6201(a)(4), 120 Stat. 4, 133 (2006). Notice of Single Source Grant Award, 72 Fed. Reg. 51, 230 (Sept. 6, 2007). 2For the purposes of the grant, the greater New Orleans area was defined as Jefferson, Orleans, Plaquemines, and St. Bernard parishes. The PCASG aimed to restore and expand access for primary care, dental care, and mental health services, and to decrease costly reliance on emergency room use for primary care services for patients who were uninsured, underinsured, or covered by Medicaid (the joint federal-state program that finances health insurance coverage for certain categories of low- income adults and children). 3LPHI is an independent, nonprofit, New Orleans-based organization focused on promoting and improving health and quality of life in Louisiana. As LDHH's local partner for administering the PCASG, LPHI is responsible for the day-to-day administration of the PCASG. 4As of March 2010, these PCASG-funded providers were operating 93 sites that were eligible to use the funds. GAO-10-773R Sustaining New Orleans Primary Care Gains

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