TOPEKA — Nine Kansas safety-net clinics have been awarded federal grants to help them earn designation as patient-centered medical homes.

Each grant was for $35,000.

“Becoming recognized (as a patient-centered medical home) is a pretty time-consuming challenge,” said Chris English, chief quality officer with the Kansas Association for the Medically Underserved, a group that represents most of the state's safety net clinics. “What these grants do, essentially, is offer up some dollars for consultation, and if the clinics want to hire a half-time person to handle all the paperwork, they can.”

The process for becoming recognized involves compliance with national standards for ensuring access to quality health care.

The clinics that received the awards were:

• First Care Clinic, Hays.

• PrairieStar Health Center, Hutchinson

• Konza Prairie Community Health Center, Junction City

• Community Health Center of Southeast Kansas, Pittsburg

• Salina Health Education Foundation, Salina

• United Methodist Mexican American Ministries, Garden City

• Shawnee County Health Agency, Topeka

• Center for Health and Wellness, Wichita

• GraceMed Health Clinic, Wichita.

Funded by the Affordable Care Act, the grants were announced Thursday by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

More than 900 clinics nationally were awarded grants.