Community Health Centers
“Community Health Center or Health Center:
An outpatient clinic that receives grant funds from the federal government through §330 of the Public Health Service Act (PHSA).”(Taylor, Jessamy)
Federally funded Community Health Centers began in the 1960’s as part of the Office of Economic Opportunity, to reach the regions of the United States that were medically underserved and to promote community “empowerment.” Formally operated under the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, it is now operated by the Department of Health and Human Services in their Bureau of Primary Health Care. With the creation of these community health centers “vulnerable” populations are now able to be adequately served. Federally funded community health centers have been connecting over 16 million people throughout the United States with primary health care services. They provide cost effective primary health care, education, social services and prevention services to low-income people. “In 2003, 69 percent of health center patients lived at or below 100 percent of the federal poverty level and 90 percent lived at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty level.” Most have little or no insurance and the ones with insurance mostly rely on Medicare services. In New Hampshire over 101,000 patients have been served through Community Health Centers, which has provided more than “425,000 primary medical and dental visits to vulnerable families and children.” Over 800 staff are employed throughout New Hampshire’s Community Health Centers, this provides more than 61 million dollars to local communities. There are over 200 network participants throughout the state to include all of New Hampshire’s community hospitals and the Dartmouth Hitchcock system. The staffs support for these networks and systems are supported by the Foundation for Healthy Communities. One of the ways these types of foundations work is to help find ways to make it easier for people to get financial help for
An outpatient clinic that receives grant funds from the federal government through §330 of the Public Health Service Act (PHSA).”(Taylor, Jessamy)
Federally funded Community Health Centers began in the 1960’s as part of the Office of Economic Opportunity, to reach the regions of the United States that were medically underserved and to promote community “empowerment.” Formally operated under the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, it is now operated by the Department of Health and Human Services in their Bureau of Primary Health Care. With the creation of these community health centers “vulnerable” populations are now able to be adequately served. Federally funded community health centers have been connecting over 16 million people throughout the United States with primary health care services. They provide cost effective primary health care, education, social services and prevention services to low-income people. “In 2003, 69 percent of health center patients lived at or below 100 percent of the federal poverty level and 90 percent lived at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty level.” Most have little or no insurance and the ones with insurance mostly rely on Medicare services. In New Hampshire over 101,000 patients have been served through Community Health Centers, which has provided more than “425,000 primary medical and dental visits to vulnerable families and children.” Over 800 staff are employed throughout New Hampshire’s Community Health Centers, this provides more than 61 million dollars to local communities. There are over 200 network participants throughout the state to include all of New Hampshire’s community hospitals and the Dartmouth Hitchcock system. The staffs support for these networks and systems are supported by the Foundation for Healthy Communities. One of the ways these types of foundations work is to help find ways to make it easier for people to get financial help for
Cited: 1. Shi, L. Singh,D. “The Essentials of the US Health Care System.” Bartlett publishers.2005: 157-158. 2. Taylor, Jessamy. “The Fundamentals of Community Health Centers.” 2004: 1-32. http://www.aoa.org/documents/Fundamentals-of-CHC.pdf 3. http://www.aoa.org/documents/Fundamentals-of-CHC.pdf