Federally Qualified Health Centers

Presented by Vicki M. Young, PhD

October 19, 2010

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Community Health Centers (CHCs) are community owned

and operated, non-profit businesses that provide access

to quality primary and preventive health care that is

affordable to everyone.

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Community Health Services

Community Economic Development

Community Participation

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Must be non-profit organization Must have Governing Board dominated by

health center patients Must provide services based on

community need (5 life cycles: perinatal, pediatric, adolescent, adult, geriatric)

Must see all patients regardless of their inability to pay

Must be located in an MUA or serve an MUP

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Must employ at a minimum, an Executive Director, Medical Director and a Finance Officer

May charge a nominal fee for patients who are <100% of federal poverty level (FPL) and must charge 100% for patients >200% of FPL

Must have a sliding fee scale for services for patients between 100% and 200% of FPL

Must address linguistic needs Must be accessible

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Primary Care◦ Family Practice◦ Internal Medicine◦ OB/GYN◦ Pediatrics

Other Health Care Services◦ Dental◦ Pharmacy◦ Mental Health

Diagnostic◦ Lab and X-ray

Ancillary/ Support Services◦ Outreach◦ Transportation◦ Communication Assistance◦ Case Management◦ Social Services◦ Nutrition◦ Podiatry

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Primary Care Core Services◦Screenings◦Treatment

Referral Supportive Care

◦Patient Education/ Self Management

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Physicians are covered under FTCA Several of the CHCs have

partnered/merged with private physician practices

Hospital affiliations may include residency training

Must have annual independent audits; also reviewed routinely by the federal government

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Must have 24-hour call arrangements

Support for the integration of mental health, oral health, pharmacy services

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19 CHC Corporate Grantees163 service sitesServed 300,000 + medical patients in 2009

275 provider FTEs

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http://www.hrsa.gov/data-statistics/health-center-data/NationalData/index.html

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THE MISSION◦The mission of the South Carolina Primary

Health Care Association is to provide a coordinating structure to assure access to community based primary, behavioral and other health care services to every community in South Carolina.

◦Direct Services through Migrant Health

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Primary Care Association(all centers are members)

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Operations and Administration Programs and Health Policy Finance and Information Technology (IT)

Clinical Quality Improvement

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Focus on providing assistance to centers in the area of quality improvement

Provided through different mechanisms◦Technical Assistance in the area of clinical practice

and quality management (e.g., FTCA, Risk Management, Accreditation, Credentialing, Emergency Preparedness, Planned Care Models, CPR Training, etc.)

◦Training Quarterly Clinical Network Meetings Annual Clinical Retreat

◦Other ways we assist with quality improvement Management/Coordination of Programs Liaison Role between partners and member organizations

◦Research

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Adequate Access to Care Coordination of Care for Patients◦Access to specialists due to Uninsured numbers No specialists in the area

Resources◦Financial Compensation for care Timeliness of compensation

◦Human Workforce

◦Facility

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Dedicated funding to decrease the burden of the challenges◦Workforce◦Facility◦Patient access to services

Preventive Increased access to primary care services Specialty and enhancing services

Some of current challenges will decrease but won’t be eliminated (e.g., workforce, coordinated care issues, etc.)

Establishing strategic partnerships

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Meaningful Use Patient Centered Medical Homes Population Health Data Assisted/Driven Decision Making Integration of Enhancing Services

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