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The Funding Risk Checklist
for Health Centers.

As a Health Center leader, you are experiencing uncertainty and turbulence like never before within the healthcare landscape. The unfortunate reality is that Health Center funding is at tremendous risk. If your funding were reduced, what would you do? At THRIVE, we’re here to help. Here’s a checklist to help you plan your response to a funding risk so you can continue your operations with as little service disruption as possible.

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Immediate Actions

Don't panic!

Meet with Leadership Team to Assess Financial Impact

  • Determine your financial status. How long can you sustain current operations?
  • Determine which programs, services, and departments will be most affected.
  • Identify non-essential expenses that can be reduced or eliminated.

    • Review Revenue Streams & Cost-Saving Opportunities

  • Evaluate alternative funding sources (grants, donations, state/local aid).
  • Freeze hiring and non-essential overtime.
  • Implement flexible staffing solutions (e.g., part-time adjustments, telehealth expansion).
  • Reinforce your billing and reimbursement processes to ensure maximum revenue collection. Upgrade for greater efficiency if possible.
  • Seek partnerships with hospitals and hospital systems in your service area. Yes, now is the right time!

    • Communicate with Staff

  • Convene emergency meeting with all staff as quickly as possible.
  • Be transparent about financial constraints while reassuring them of efforts to minimize job losses.
  • Be honest and transparent. Trust matters now more than ever.
  • Seek feedback from staff to ensure quality care despite budget constraints.
  • Be compassionate, acknowledge the personal and professional impacts on staff members themselves.
  • Engage staff as your partners to advocate for the Health Center within their professional communities, and among friends, family, neighbors and faith communities and beyond. We’re all in this together.

    • Short-Term Adjustments

    Plan for Patient Care Continuity

  • Develop strategy for scheduling, triage, chronic disease management and medication access and management.
  • Create clear protocols for emergency referrals, medication refills, after-hours care and telehealth options.
  • Identify core services that must remain operational.
  • Consider temporarily suspending or consolidating lower-priority programs.

    • Communicate With Patients

  • Create FAQ to help staff respond to questions, dispel rumors, and provide accurate information.
  • Emphasize your continued commitment and compassion to all patients. Let them know they can still feel safe in your Health Center.
  • Acknowledge impacts to members of specific targeted groups, e.g., providers screen for impacts such as immigrants who are afraid to send their children to school. Let them know you “see them” and you care.
  • Be transparent about the health center’s funding status.
  • Be creative in using all available communication channels: social media, texts, messaging opportunities within your phone system, TV in waiting room, handouts, poster.
  • Tailor your communications to the characteristics and diversity of your own community and how recent changes may affect them.

    • Document Impact

  • Track and compile data on the number of patients who have lost services or experienced adverse outcomes due to the funding loss.
  • Create a dashboard or presentation-ready data displays to use in advocacy, public relations efforts and to respond to requests for information.

    • Leverage External Collaborations

  • Engage with stakeholders, local government representatives, health organizations, and patient advocacy groups. Join forces with leaders of other organizations that serve the same populations as partners to share information and strategize: What is happening and how can we collectively continue to take care of our people? Community Action Agencies, Health Department, behavioral health provider organizations, women's shelters, homeless services, food pantries, hospitals etc.
  • Start by contacting other leaders individually, and then suggest coordination as a group via in person or virtual meetings, email lists, etc.
  • Keep your local information and referral system (e.g., 211) up-to-date on service changes, and find ways to leverage your region’s closed-loop referral system, if you have one.

    • THRIVE is here for you.

    We hope that this checklist will help to keep you focused during these challenging times.  If you would like to talk to our team about challenges and concerns specific to your health center, at no cost, please contact us here, or call (518) 552-0070.

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