Community Health Center (CHC)
What is a community health center (CHC)?
Community health centers are care facilities with the goal of increasing access to crucial primary and preventative care services. CHCs primarily serve patients from lower income areas who may be uninsured or underinsured, lack access to transportation, or face language barriers.
Why are community health center (CHCs) important in healthcare?
According to data published by HRSA regarding health center performance, 62.89 percent of health center patients in 2018 were of an ethnic minority. CHCs offer critical care services to underserved communities. These services include:
- Delivering high quality and comprehensive primary and preventative care regardless of patients’ ability to pay
- Offering supportive services such as health education, language translation, and transportation
- Operating under the direction of patient-driven boards of community-based organizations, including?public and private non-profit organizations and tribal-and faith-based organizations
- Developing and providing systems that respond to the unique needs of diverse, underserved areas and populations
- Meeting compliance standards as described by the Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) Bureau of Primary Health Care (BPHC)