Domenici Decries Pending HHS Cuts to Women's Health Center in Santa Fe

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Domenici Decries Pending HHS Cuts to Women's Health Center in Santa Fe

Plans to terminate contracts for federal programs focused on improving health care for women have spurred U.S. Senator Pete Domenici to raise his voice in opposition because it would adversely impact a successful program in Santa Fe.

Domenici today wrote Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt to strongly suggest that he abandon the HHS plan to begin terminating contracts in September for Multidisciplinary National Centers of Excellence in Women's Health (CoE). The HHS plan to discontinue its current Multidisciplinary CoE program will mean funding losses for programs like Women's Health Services in Santa Fe.

(http://www.womenshealthsantafe.org/)

"These changes will be devastating for the Multidisciplinary CoEs. This plan reflects a lack of understanding of the network's extensive and profound contributions to women's health, and it threatens to cripple this network," Domenici said.

"I am particularly concerned because, not only would the Santa Fe program and other centers lose vital funds, they would also lose their center of excellence designation," Domenici said. "Women's Health Services has even been solicited as a model for how other centers like it, should conduct business. Cutting their funding would eliminate the possibility for other centers to benefit from the unique model they have perfected."

While the HHS termination would mean the loss of about $50,000 annually in federal funds for the Santa Fe program, Domenici said the loss of the CoE designation could have far more serious ramifications for the Women's Health Services' nonprofit and grant fundraising efforts.

The Santa Fe-based program provides care for over 13,000 women in and around Santa Fe. The center is one of 14 of its kind in the country and the only one in HHS Region VI, which covers New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana, and includes 68 federally-recognized American Indian tribes.

"Changes to the Multidisciplinary CoE model are being proposed despite the collective success of the CoE program in addressing the alarming deficiencies in women's health care throughout the nation. These centers have effectively enhanced collaboration between academia and communities of diverse cultural backgrounds within the areas of research, clinical trials, leadership programs, and community education programs," Domenici wrote Leavitt.

"It is clear to me that the Multidisciplinary CoE program is critical to the health and well-being of women, girls and their families across the country," the Senator wrote.

All three types of HHS-designated centers would be affected by the planned funding cuts: National Centers of Excellence in Women's Health, National Community Centers of Excellence in Women's Health (CCOE), National Rural Frontier Women's Health Coordinating Centers and the Region 8 Demonstration Projects.

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