Maximizing Outcomes through Better Investments in Lifesaving Equipment for (MOBILE) Health Care Act

Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for his leadership, as well as my cosponsors: Representatives Hudson, Herrera Beutler, and Ruiz for their hard work in supporting this piece of legislation.

I rise today in strong support of my bipartisan legislation, the MOBILE Health Care Act, which will help more Americans access the quality healthcare they need and deserve.

In my State of Nevada, more than two-thirds of residents live in a primary care health professional shortage area. In our rural communities, that number goes to 82 percent.

Needless to say, the situation is dire, and that is why expanding access to quality healthcare has been a priority of mine since I have been a Member of Congress.

Expanding the capabilities of Federally Qualified Health Centers, commonly known as FQHCs, has been a top

focus of mine when it comes to expanding access to healthcare. That is because FQHCs lead the Nation in driving quality improvement, while reducing healthcare costs.

Across this country, 1 in 11 Americans, including 400,000 veterans, and nearly 9 million children, rely on FQHCs for their primary healthcare. They have been a huge success in expanding quality care, but the reality is, smaller, rural communities do not have the population base to support full-time health centers.

There are also many Americans, in both rural and urban areas, who lack transportation to access their closest FQHC, and that is exactly where mobile health units come in. Mobile health units have the capability to bring high-quality healthcare to all Americans, especially those in underserved areas.

My bill will allow FQHCs this important flexibility to use their Federal New Access Point grants to establish mobile health units. This will allow health centers to better serve their communities, especially communities that have traditionally been hard to reach; and this does so at no additional cost to the taxpayer.

In my district, we have seen the difference these mobile units make. For example, the Nevada Health Centers currently runs three mobile health units: The Children's Mobile Medical Unit, the Ronald McDonald Care Mobile Unit, and the Mammovan.

The Mammovan is a mobile mammography unit that travels to underserved areas of our State, providing mammograms to women in geographically isolated areas and those who may not otherwise seek this important preventative care that will allow for early detection and simply will save lives.

The First Person Care Clinic in Nevada also has a mobile health unit and is in the process of setting up a second one, which will expand access to primary care to more patients from Las Vegas, to Henderson, to Laughlin.

Recently, I had the opportunity to see firsthand the Mammovan in action, and I am proud of all of Nevada's health centers and the southern Nevada Health District who are leading the way in providing lifesaving mobile healthcare for Nevadans.

We must build off these success stories and ensure health centers across America can utilize mobile health units where they make sense to better serve their communities.

We must keep working to ensure that every American has access to healthcare they need and deserve; and that is why I encourage my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on this critical piece of legislation today.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (S. 958) to amend the Public Health Service Act to expand the allowable use criteria for new access points grants for community health centers.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on S. 958.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of S. 958, the Maximizing Outcomes through Better Investments in Lifesaving Equipment for Health Care Act, or the MOBILE Health Care Act. This Senate bill is the companion to H.R. 5141, which passed out of the Energy and Commerce Committee last week. The bipartisan bill will help expand access to community health centers and the important care they provide to individuals who live in hard-to-reach areas of the country.

Community health centers are a critical source of care for nearly 30 million Americans. Unfortunately, many people who live in rural and geographically isolated areas can struggle to reach a community health center. Many others may lack access to reliable transportation that can make it difficult to get the care they need.

Now, one way to mitigate these barriers to access is to allow community health centers to establish mobile health clinics. These clinics can meet people where they live to provide the care they need. There is already funding to establish new community health centers through the New Access Points grants but, unfortunately, existing rules for these grants make it difficult to receive Federal funding to set up these mobile sites.

So this legislation will make it easier for community health centers to use New Access Points grants to establish mobile clinics and help eliminate one of the barriers to care for rural areas.

I thank Representatives Susie Lee, Hudson, Ruiz, and Herrera Beutler for their leadership on this issue and their hard work to advance this important bill.

The House companion to this commonsense, bipartisan legislation was voted out of the Energy and Commerce Committee by a unanimous vote of 52-to-0 last week, so I am proud to support this bill, and I look forward to sending it to the President's desk.

I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting S. 958, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Nevada (Mrs. Lee), the sponsor of this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, this is an important bill. It is bipartisan. I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes,'' and I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I was unable to cast votes on the following legislative measures. If I were present for roll call votes, I would have voted Aye for the following votes:

Roll 461, September 29, 2022: On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass S. 4900--SBIR and STTR Extension Act of 2022.

Roll 462, September 29, 2022: On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass, As Amended, H.R. 8466--Chai Suthammanont Healthy Federal Workplaces Act of 2022, as amended.

Roll 463, September 29, 2022: On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass S. 3470--End Human Trafficking in Government Contracts Act of 2022.

Roll 464, September 29, 2022: On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass S. 2551--AI Training Act.

Roll 465, September 29, 2022: On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass S. 958--Maximizing Outcomes through Better Investments in Lifesaving Equipment for (MOBILE) Health Care Act.

Roll 466, September 29, 2022: On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass, As Amended, H.R. 6965--Visit America Act, as amended.

Roll 467, September 29, 2022: On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass, As Amended, H.R. 7321--Global Aircraft Maintenance Safety Improvement Act, as amended.

Roll 468, September 29, 2022: On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass, As Amended, House Amendment to S. 3662--Preventing PFAS Runoff at Airports Act.

Roll 469, September 29, 2022: On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass, As Amended, H.R. 8888--Food Security for All Veterans Act.

Roll 470, September 29, 2022: On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass S. 2794--Supporting Families of the Fallen Act.

Roll 471, September 29, 2022: On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass, As Amended, H.R. 8446--Global Food Security Reauthorization Act of 2022, as amended.

Roll 472, September 29, 2022: On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass H.R. 8463--Millennium Challenge Corporation Eligibility Expansion Act.

Roll 473, September 29, 2022: On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass Certain Bills and Concur in the Senate Amendments on H.R. 8956, H.R. 6967, H.R. 8163, H.R. 4081, H.R. 6889, H.R. 1638, Senate Amendment to

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of S. 958, the Maximizing Outcomes through Better Investments in Lifesaving Equipment, or the MOBILE Health Care Act.

Federally Qualified Health Centers, or FQHCs, are an integral part of the healthcare system. They provide much-needed healthcare services to some of our most vulnerable populations, the uninsured, pregnant women, children, those suffering from homelessness, and veterans, as well as Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries.

It can be difficult for patients to access care at FQHCs in rural and underserved areas due to transportation constraints. One way to help improve healthcare delivery is for FQHCs to meet patients where they are by deploying mobile units.

The MOBILE Health Care Act will allow existing FQHCs to use their New Access Point grants to establish mobile health units without also creating new brick-and-mortar sites and without authorizing any new grant programs or funding.

Further, it allows new applicants to use these grants to purchase mobile health units if they also use a portion of the grant to establish a permanent, full-time site.

This bill will help increase access to affordable primary care services across the country, especially in rural areas, like my district.

I thank the bill's sponsors, Representatives Hudson, Herrera Beutler, Lee, and Ruiz for introducing this important legislation.

I urge my colleagues to support the underlying bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Carter), my Energy and Commerce Committee colleague.

Mr. Speaker, this is an important piece of legislation. I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes,'' and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr Speaker, I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea'' on rollcall No. 465.

Members Recorded Pursuant to House Resolution 8, 117th Congress

Bacon (Hartzler)

Beatty (Cicilline)

Bilirakis (Fleischmann)

Brooks (Fleischmann)

Buchanan (Bucshon)

Carter (TX) (Weber (TX))

Cawthorn (Gohmert)

Cherfilus-McCormick (Neguse)

Chu (Beyer)

Cleaver (Adams)

Conway (LaMalfa)

DeFazio (Pallone)

Demings (Dean)

Diaz-Balart

(Reschenthaler)

Dunn (Cammack)

Evans (Beyer)

Garcia (TX) (Escobar)

Gimenez (Malliotakis)

Gonzalez, Vicente (Correa)

Gosar (Weber (TX))

Green (TX) (Cuellar)

Herrera Beutler (Meijer)

Horsford (Garamendi)

Jackson Lee (Cicilline)

Jacobs (NY) (Sempolinski)

Jayapal (Cicilline)

Johnson (TX) (Stevens)

Kelly (IL) (Cicilline)

Kirkpatrick (Pallone)

Lawson (FL) (Stevens)

Lynch (Trahan)

Mace (Nehls)

Mast (Waltz)

McEachin (Beyer)

Meng (Escobar)

Murphy (FL) (Peters)

Newman (Beyer)

Ocasio-Cortez (Neguse)

Palazzo (Fleischmann)

Payne (Pallone)

Pfluger (Ellzey)

Porter (Neguse)

Rice (NY) (Morelle)

Rice (SC) (Meijer)

Rush (Beyer)

Ryan (OH) (Correa)

Salazar (Waltz)

Sewell (Cicilline)

Sherman (Garamendi)

Simpson (Fulcher)

Soto (Escobar)

Speier (Garamendi)

Steel (Obernolte)

Steube

(Reschenthaler)

Torres (NY) (Correa)

Vargas (Garamendi)

Wasserman Schultz (Schneider)

Waters (Takano)

Wilson (SC) (Norman)