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In 48 hours, 31 million Americans might lose their doctor.
The Community Health Center Fund expires January 30, 2026.
This isn’t just another funding deadline. It’s a healthcare catastrophe in slow motion.
💔 Here’s what’s at stake:
The CHCF provides 70% of federal funding for Federally Qualified Health Centers. These aren’t luxury clinics. They’re the lifeline for underserved communities, operating 17,000+ sites nationwide.
42% of health centers have less than 90 days of cash reserves.
Think about that. Nearly half our safety net providers are one funding gap away from closing their doors.
Who gets hurt when FQHCs fail?
• The single mom working two jobs who can only see a doctor on weekends
• The elderly patient managing diabetes without Medicare Advantage
• The immigrant family navigating healthcare for the first time
• Rural communities where the FQHC is the ONLY provider for miles
Congress has played this game before, extending funding in short bursts. September 2025: $4.26 billion. Then a brief extension to January 2026.
But short-term extensions create long-term chaos.
You can’t hire physicians on 90-day contracts.
You can’t plan expansions with uncertain budgets.
You can’t serve communities when you’re constantly fighting for survival.
The House passed a bill boosting funding to $4.6 billion through FY 2026. But will it clear the Senate in time?
Here’s what healthcare leaders miss about FQHCs:
They’re not just primary care. They’re the front door to the entire healthcare system. When FQHCs thrive, emergency rooms see fewer non-urgent visits. Preventable hospitalizations drop. Health equity improves.
When they fail? The ripple effects hit everyone.
Your hospital sees more uncompensated care.
Your emergency department becomes a primary care clinic.
Your community’s health outcomes plummet.
This isn’t about politics. It’s about whether we believe healthcare is a right or a privilege.
31 million Americans are watching Congress decide their fate.
48 hours.
That’s all we have left.
♻️ Repost if safety net healthcare deserves stable, long-term funding.
👉 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/
