The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on Tuesday announced $1,719,121 in Quality Improvement Awards to 21 health centers in New Jersey.

Funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), New Jersey health centers will use these awards to improve the quality, efficiency and value of the health care they provide.

“President Trump’s vision for health care aims to deliver Americans better value from the care they receive and, ultimately, better health. Community health centers have consistently delivered these kinds of results, including high-quality primary care at a significantly lower cost than their peers and above-average results in controlling chronic conditions,” said HHS Secretary Alex Azar in a statement.

“This week’s awards recognize especially high-achieving health centers. America’s health centers are essential to producing results on our actionable public health challenges, like HIV/AIDS and the opioid crisis, as well as to building a health care system that delivers better value and puts the patient at the center,” Azar said.

By providing patients access to high quality, value-based care, health centers are uniquely positioned to meet the nation’s most pressing health care needs, as well as emerging health priorities. HRSA-funded health centers are the first line of care in combatting the nation’s opioid crisis. In 2018, health centers screened nearly 1.1 million people for substance use disorder and ultimately provided medication-assisted treatment to nearly 95,000 patients nationwide.

In 2018 alone, health centers provided over 2.4 million HIV tests to more than 2 million patients. Nationwide, health centers provide care to one in six patients diagnosed with HIV.

For more than 50 years, health centers have delivered affordable, accessible, quality, and cost-effective primary health care services to patients. Today, nearly 1,400 health centers operate approximately 12,000 service delivery sites that provide care to more than 28 million patients nationwide.

A list of 2019 Quality Improvement Awards recipients is available here.