Healthcare reform means expansion for Community Health Centers

Submitted by the National Association of Community Health Centers  NACHC.com

Improved Health Care Access  

 Greater investment to deliver primary care services to more people and communities in need.

Community Health Centers are expected to expand their capacity to double the number of patients they currently reach from 20 million patients today to 40 million in five years.  Health centers are expected to grow and develop far beyond any expansion that has taken place in their 45 years of providing care. 

The real work of health care reform will happen at the local and state levels. Community Health Centers and State Primary Care Associations are working in partnership to implement health care reform with detailed statewide growth plans. These plans will guide health centers in their expansion and chart a course that builds a coordinated health structure within every state to address unmet health needs and improve the delivery of cost-effective primary care and preventive health services.

 Better Quality of Health Care Delivery

 There will be more primary care options for health consumers because of the direct investment in Community Health Centers.

Community Health Centers will be included in the new market insurance plans,  which means that more people will have access to the services of a Community Health Center.  With unfettered access to a range of primary and preventive care services under one roof – including dental, pharmacy and even mental health services – more people will receive regular care that is coordinated and targeted to their specific health care needs.

Community Health Centers are effective providers because their approach to health care is local and targets the unique and diverse health needs of the populations they serve.  They are directed by patient-majority governing boards that  ensure the health center’s services are responsive to the patient population, culturally appropriate and deliver results that improve health outcomes.

The new health reform law also recognizes that health centers have a key role to play in building the pipeline for more primary care providers through training, Teaching Health Centers, and the National Health Service Corps.  All these initiatives ensure the diverse, compassionate and culturally competent workforce so desperately needed to deliver quality care now and for the future.

 Lower Costs for Consumers, Taxpayers and Governments

 Together, the new health care reform law and state support for the safety net will lower health care costs and generate savings to consumers, taxpayers and governments.

Community Health Centers will be a major provider of accessible and affordable primary care for many of the newly insured Medicaid patients. Medicaid beneficiaries who receive regular care at a health center today experience a 35% reduction in visits to hospital ERs where the cost of care is more expensive. By treating people before they become sick, health centers keep down health care costs for all consumers, taxpayers and governments.

Annual medical expenses for health center patients are 24% lower compared to patients seen elsewhere. Health centers provide quality care for $1.61 per patient per day (or $588 annually per patient).

According to a recent George Washington University report, the expected expansion of health centers over the next decade will produce as much $300 billion in savings across the entire US health care system. This means that every dollar of federal investment yields more than $6.

 State support is critical to success in fixing health care.

To create healthier and productive communities and achieve cost-savings, states must do their part to support health reform and invest where it counts most – in prevention and coverage.

Nationally, uninsured health center patient visits are up by 21% and are likely to continue increasing as the economic recession lingers. The insurance expansions contained in the health reform law are not expected to go into effect until 2014.  Ongoing state support of Community Health Centers is needed to ensure that more people in need can be reached until health reform is fully implemented.