The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) awarded a total of 67 Community Health Center New Access Point grants nationwide out of 800 requests received. The Inland Empire, which had applied for this funding, did not receive any of the grant money for health care services in the region.

According to HRSA, the applications funded were primarily in rural areas and serving special populations, such as homeless patients.

The lack of Federally Qualified Health Center funding in the region places both Riverside and San Bernardino counties on precarious footing in terms of the region’s health care system, said Christina Bivona-Tellez, HASC Inland Area regional vice president. “This setback will not deter the region’s efforts to pursue additional FQHCs for our area. We are currently very under equity in the number of FQHCs to population, with only 10 FQHCs for a population base of almost 4 million.”