| The County health system has many years' experience with
block grants, which fund a number of essential services. As the name
implies, these funds are given in large blocks to the State, which in turn
issues requests for proposals, and then awards and oversees individual
grants. In recent years Congress has shifted the administration
of more and more federally funded services to block grants, allowing more
discretion to the State for setting programmatic goals.
In Illinois, many health-related block grants are administered
by the Illinois Department of Public
Health and the Illinois
Department of Human Services. Among these are the Women,
Infants and Children (W.I.C.) programs which provide nutritional outreach,
education and supplements to qualified women and children, the
Title X Family Planning programs which provide a full range of family
planning services to poor women, and the Regional Perinatal Network program
which provides extensive services to infants born at risk.
Similarly, two of the programs for HIV outreach and treatment, the
Ryan White Care Act Titles I and II, are handled as if they were block
grants. Title I funds are awarded to metropolitan areas most
affected by the HIV epidemic. In Chicago, the Chicago
Department of Public Health administers these grants. Ryan
White Title II funds are awarded to States, which in turn allot funds to
regional granting bodies. Locally the agent for these awards is the AIDS
Foundation of Chicago.
This partnership among federal, state and local government
has helped establish a system of care which fills significant gaps which
might not otherwise be filled by private medicine. It stems from
a recognition that supportive services such as nutritional supplements
and case management are essential to providing good care for medically
indigent clients. It also significantly boosts the range of services
which the County health system is able to provide.
The new emphasis on block grants means that States will
have a great deal more latitude in setting guidelines for grants.
At the local level, this means that grant recipients will need to become
better acquainted with the State mechanisms and agencies that will be responsible
for distributing these funds.
See also:
Health Resources
and Services Administration
Substance Abuse and Mental
Health Services Administration
Agency for Children and Families
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