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Your FQHC just got a new mission, and it’s not what you think.
HRSA’s FY 2026 grant competition dropped last week, and it’s a complete 180 from previous years.
Out: Health disparities initiatives, LGBTQ+ programs, DEI activities, housing-first homelessness strategies.
In: Chronic disease prevention, nutrition programs, obesity management, environmental health, reducing medication overreliance.
This isn’t just a priority tweak. It’s a fundamental restructuring of how 30 million Americans receive care.
FQHCs serve 1 in 11 people nationwide. For many communities, they’re the only healthcare option. Now these centers must rapidly pivot their entire service model while operating on razor-thin margins.
The timing couldn’t be worse:
• 42% of FQHCs have less than 90 days of cash reserves
• The Community Health Center Fund expires January 30, 2026
• CHCF provides 70% of federal funding for staff and facilities
• Congress just kicked the can with a short-term extension to December 2026
Here’s what keeps me up at night:
We’re asking safety-net providers to completely redesign their care models while their primary funding source hangs by a thread. Nutrition programs sound great, but who’s paying for the dietitians? Environmental health assessments are valuable, but what about the social workers addressing homelessness?
The shift from addressing social determinants to focusing on lifestyle interventions assumes people have stable housing, food security, and transportation. But these are the exact challenges FQHC patients face daily.
💡 The real question: Can prevention-focused care work when your patients are struggling with basic survival?
FQHC leaders have tough choices ahead. Align with new priorities to secure funding, or maintain programs their communities desperately need?
This policy shift will reshape community healthcare for the next decade. We better get it right.
♻️ Repost if community health centers need stable, long-term funding commitments.
👉 Follow me, Jonathan Govette, for daily, real-time updates on healthcare technology and business news. LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathangovette/
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Author:
CEO/Co-Founder @ Oatmeal Health | AI Lung Cancer Screening | Almost Became a Doctor | Engineer | Follow to Share What I’ve Learned Along the Way
I help patients get the care they need earlier, preventing late-stage cancer.
That’s been the throughline across three companies and almost 20 years in healthcare. At ReferralMD, we fixed broken referral networks so patients didn’t fall through the cracks. At Oatmeal Health, it’s lung cancer: building the diagnostic and screening infrastructure so the 85% of cases caught too late get caught early instead.
Today as CEO of Oatmeal Health, I lead a team embedding AI into radiology workflows to turn routine lung CT scans into reimbursable cancer risk assessments. We partner with FQHCs to reach underserved communities, and with health systems and payers to make early detection economically sustainable. Think HeartFlow or Cleerly, but for lungs.
Between companies, I advised at Techstars and Plug and Play, mentoring founders building in digital health. That experience shaped how I think about what separates companies that ship from companies that stall: distribution, reimbursement, and clinical trust, not just technology.
I’m a CancerX alumnus, a 3x healthcare founder, and someone who believes the biggest problems in cancer aren’t scientific. They’re operational.
We’re hiring mission-driven builders at Oatmeal Health. If you want to work on something that matters, reach out.
When I’m not working, I’m traveling, mentoring, and keeping up with one very energetic husky. 🐾
Substack – The Oatmeal Bite:
Millions of patients get less care because of who they are, where they live, or how they look. I’m fighting to change that. CEO @OatmealHealth, a startup built for the underserved. The Oatmeal Bite: intel for clinicians, investors, and advocates.
Jonathan Govette
CEO of Oatmeal Health
Substack:
https://oatmealhealthjonathangovette.substack.com/
