Community health centers fulfill an important need in our society, providing access to a wide variety of care for communities that otherwise wouldn’t have access to these services. What exactly does this mean, though? What are CHCs, and what specialties do they service? Read on to learn more.
What is a CHC?
Community health centers are patient-directed, community based organizations created to deliver comprehensive care to vulnerable communities, particularly those which are low-income, uninsured, and under-insured. These organizations integrate access to mental health, substance use disorder, dental, and pharmaceutical services in one location with the goal of overcoming economic, geographical, or cultural barriers to health care. By providing this important care, CHCs generate around $24 billion in savings per year for the health care system.
Who do they serve?
In general, community health centers serve everyone, regardless of their ability to pay or insurance status. More specifically, CHCs serve the following:
- Over 330,000 veterans
- Nearly 1.3 million homeless patients
- Over 955,000 migrant farmworkers
- 8 million children
Those served by community health centers are typically either uninsured or covered under public insurance, with 49% of patients being on Medicaid, 9% being on Medicare, 1% being on another public insurance, and 23% being entirely uninsured. Only 17% of CHC patients are covered under private insurance. 92% of community health center patients are low income, with 70% of patients falling below the federal poverty level. Additionally, most CHC patients are members of a racial or ethnic minority group, 62% of patients to be exact. By any measure, CHCs serve the nation’s most vulnerable patients and seek to eliminate health disparities that have existed for decades.
What specialties do they service?
In order to qualify as a community health center, these organizations must provide comprehensive primary care along with preventive health services for all age groups. This includes screenings, well child visits, immunizations, preventive dental care, referrals to specialists, and pharmaceutical services. Additionally, CHCs offer transportation services needed to provide adequate patient care, case management to establish patient eligibility for health and other services, health education for their patients as well as the general public, and translation services for patients who aren’t fluent in English.
Community health centers are an important piece in combatting the health disparities that have been in existence in our country for far too long. These organizations work to overcome the barriers to care that vulnerable populations have traditionally faced to provide equitable healthcare to those most at risk. The ability to perform this important work requires the right tools, particularly a strong PM and EMR system. This is why MicroMD’s Practice Management solution was created to help you reimagine care delivery and the challenges you tackle in your practice every day. Manage comprehensive patient information from large volumes of demographic, insurance, billing, encounter, lab, and other types of information with MicroMD’s Practice Management System. Additionally, our electronic medical record software helps practices and health centers eliminate unnecessary paper, improve clinical productivity and enhance care for your patients.
For more information on how MicroMD can help your CHC complete its important work or to get started, visit micromd.com or call 1-800-624-8832.
About the author,
Crystal Stanton
Crystal is a Digital Marketing Specialist at MicroMD. Content creation, social media management, and SEO optimization are just a few of her areas of concentration as she seeks to educate clients and prospects alike about the simple, customizable, and connected solutions we offer at MicroMD.
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