The Pennsylvania Department of Health is working to reopen community health centers that were closed under former Gov. Tom Corbett, according to the Observer-Reporter.
Twenty-six of the state's 60 community health centers were set to close under Gov. Corbett's "modernization" plan which was halted by a court challenge filed by SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania and several state legislators.
The suit claimed the plan to close the health centers violated a state law that requires the department to continue operating all public health centers open as of July 1, 1995. They also claimed the plan would reduce the level of health services available to residents in rural counties.
Despite the court challenge, several community health centers were closed and consolidated and 26 nurse positions were eliminated.
The state Supreme Court agreed with the plaintiffs and ordered the administration to stop reducing the number of community health centers and to re-established the unlawfully closed centers.
Now, the department of health is working on reopening the closed centers and offering reinstatement to the nurses who lost their positions. Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf has included $3.8 million in the state's budget to help the department to move ahead with its plan.