Community health center access up by 1 million patients

The number of patients accessing primary care at community health centers (CHCs) has surged by nearly a million people in the past year, according to a new analysis from the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) obtained via email.

The data, issued as part of National Health Center Week, showed that 32.5 million people accessed a CHC within the past year, up from 31.5 million people who did the same in 2023.

"Community Health Centers serve as the provider of choice for primary care for 32.5 million or 1 in 10 people across our nation," said Kyu Rhee, MD, MPP, president and CEO of NACHC. "They deliver high-quality, team-based, comprehensive health services that integrate medical, mental, oral, pharmacy, social, and specialty care within and beyond our exam room walls in rural, frontier, urban, suburban, and island communities in over 15K locations."

The first CHC opened in 1965, and since then, the health centers have been instrumental in the nation's effort to expand access to care for low-income people. CHCs, often called federally qualified health centers (FQHCs), provide care to all who access them, regardless of ability to pay. Health centers also do key social determinants of health work, according to the NACHC website, including expanding access to transportation, food and other social services.

The surge in individuals accessing CHCs could be a signal of the growing primary care crisis in the nation. Figures from the Commonwealth Fund show that only around 87% of Americans have a usual source of care. The NACHC press release indicated that over 100 million people struggle to access primary care.

CHCs can help fill this gap, the organization said, so long as the requisite funding is available.

In a statement about National Health Center Week, President Joe Biden affirmed the calls for greater CHC funding.

"Community health centers play a key role in making sure health care is a right in this country, not a privilege -- that is why my Administration is investing in them at a historic rate," Biden said in a public statement. "My Budget would put the Health Center Program on a pathway to double in size. We have also delivered funding for community health centers to expand critical services, including substance use disorder treatments, behavioral health care, pregnancy-related care, and preventative cancer screenings."

Supporting CHCs can have public health benefits. Data has shown that CHCs were critical in the nation's COVID-19 response, administering 19.2 million vaccines, two-thirds of which went to patients of color.

Health centers also help support patient access to behavioral healthcare, as well as support transitions of care for formerly incarcerated individuals.

"As a primary care physician and former National Health Service Corps Scholar, I have witnessed firsthand how they prevent acute and chronic disease, deliver essential jobs, reduce overall healthcare costs, save our nation billions of dollars, and advance health equity for families and communities in need," Rhee said.

"During this annual National Health Center Week and with gratitude to the White House and bipartisan members of Congress for their recognition of health centers' critical value, we celebrate health centers as not only the largest primary care network across our country, but also the best, most innovative, most diverse, and most resilient part of our health system."

Sara Heath has covered news related to patient engagement and health equity since 2015.