Federally-Funded Health Centers
America's Health Centers are private, not-for-profit, consumer-directed health care corporations which provide high quality, cost-effective and comprehensive primary and preventive care to medically underserved, underinsured and uninsured people.
The nationwide network of safety net providers is primarily comprised of health centers which are supported by federal grants under the U.S. Public Health Service Act are:
- Community Health Centers (CHCs)
- Migrant Health Centers
- Health Care for the Homeless Programs
- Public Housing Primary Care Programs
These community-based providers are also commonly referred to as Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) because they meet rigorous federal standards related to quality of care and services, as well as cost, and they are qualified to receive cost-based reimbursement under Medicaid and Medicare law.
Since 1965, Health Centers have delivered comprehensive health and social support services to people who otherwise would face major financial, social, cultural and language barriers to obtaining quality, affordable health care.
In 2009 there were more than 1,200 community-based health centers in operation. Collectively, these centers serve as a health care home for more than 20 million patients (7.8 million of whom are uninsured) through 7,500 delivery sites in urban and rural underserved communities in all fifty states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the US Virgin Islands.
Health Centers provide access to health care for millions of people who have been locked out of the "traditional" health care system.
Poverty, homelessness, poor living conditions, geographical isolation, lack of doctors and lack of health insurance pose insurmountable access problems for many people at higher risk for serious and costly health conditions, including asthma, tuberculosis, diabetes and high-risk pregnancies. Health centers address these access problems through the delivery of comprehensive primary and preventive services - the type of services not typically offered by traditional private sector providers to at-risk people, including most managed care systems. A 2009 George Washington University report showed that the average patient receiving care at a health center had total annual medical expenditures $1,093 lower than an average patient who did not use health centers.
Montana Primary Care Association
1805 Euclid Avenue
Helena, MT 59601
Phone: (406) 442-2750
Fax: (406) 449-2460
Email:
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