Health Center Facts
Deliver the Message
Community, Migrant, and Homeless Health Centers are partnerships
of people, governments, and communities working to meet health needs.
They constitute a vital safety net in the nation’s health delivery
system that is meeting escalating health needs, reducing health
disparities, and bringing doctors and health services into medically
underserved areas. Today, this growing nationwide network of over
1,000 health centers serves nearly 16 million people at 4,360 urban
and rural communities in all 50 states, the District of Columbia,
Puerto Rico, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Health Centers fill critical gaps in health care serving the working
poor, the uninsured, the medically underserved, and many high-risk
and vulnerable populations. Health Centers are the family doctor
to one of every 8 uninsured persons; one of every 6 low-income Americans;
and one of every 10 rural Americans who otherwise would lack access
to health care. In addition, health centers and their innovative
programs in primary care and prevention reach out to more than 600,000
homeless persons and 700,000 migrant and seasonal farm workers.
Health Centers are built by community initiative. Federal grants
provide seed money empowering communities to recruit doctors and
needed health professionals, and to build their own points of entry
into the nation’s health delivery system. Federal grants on average
constitute 25 percent of a health center’s budget. The remainder
is leveraged from state and local governments, Medicare and Medicaid,
private contributions, private insurance, and patient fees. Medicaid
is the largest source of revenue averaging 35 percent of total revenue.
Health Centers make an enormous contribution by keeping the doors of health care open to all who seek their care. Patients are charged on a sliding fee scale to ensure that income or lack of insurance is not a barrier to care. The health center approach is aimed at lowering the costs of disease through accessible and affordable primary care and prevention. It is estimated that health centers save the health system and American taxpayers $7 billion per year by keeping people healthy and out of hospitals and costly emergency rooms.
Health Centers are community driven and patient centered. Health Centers tailor services to fit the special needs and priorities of their communities. Serving high-risk and vulnerable populations, centers integrate the delivery of primary care with aggressive outreach, patient education, translation and enabling support services to make health care responsive and cost effective. Their innovative programs are designed to ensure that patients have access not only to medical treatment but a continuum of coordinated care and vital support services that can lead to positive health outcomes and healthier behaviors and lifestyles.
Health Centers mobilize communities and their people to make health and prevention priorities. Health Centers interact with schools, businesses, community organizations, foundations, state and local governments, and others. They bring communities together in the effort to develop the locally responsive strategies that can effectively meet special needs and address costly and devastating health problems, including substance abuse, domestic violence, infant mortality, homelessness, and AIDS. They are strong partnerships that join the public and private sectors to support community initiatives for better health.
Health Centers hold to high standards of accountability for patient care and effective use of public and private funds. Governed by volunteer consumer boards comprised of patients and civic leaders, they ensure that care is patient centered and responsive to diverse cultures and needs within the communities served.
Health Centers produce cost savings for their communities
and the nation. Health Centers significantly increase the
use of preventive health services such as immunizations, Pap smears,
mammograms, and glaucoma screenings. Communities served by health
centers have infant mortality rates between 10 to 40 percent lower
than those communities who are not served by health centers. In
addition, health centers save the Medicaid program at least 30 percent
in annual spending for health center Medicaid beneficiaries due
to reduced specialty care referrals and fewer hospital admissions.
It is estimated that health centers save almost $3 billion annually
in combined federal and state Medicaid expenditures - $1.2 billion
in state spending alone.
Health Centers are vital mainstays in America’s communities. They contribute to the health and well being of their communities by keeping children healthy and in school and helping adults remain productive and on the job. They recruit and train health professionals for service in rural and medically underserved areas. They provide jobs for 70,000 individuals, most of whom are community residents, and engage citizen participation and involvement. Moreover, health centers are engines of economic development in their communities spending nearly $6 billion a year, with combined payrolls exceeding $4 billion and generating more than $20 billion in economic output for low-income communities across the nation.
America’s Health Centers have produced a model of health care
that has demonstrated this nation can meet compelling health needs
while containing health care costs. The health center legacy proudly
shows the value and vast potential of a community-based health system
that is lifting the barriers to health care - safeguarding health
- revitalizing communities - and keeping people healthy at cost
savings for the nation.
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© 1965 - Present; National Association of Community Health Centers
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