Community Health Center (CHC) Trends, 1994-2001

Health Affairs Article Finds CHCs Providing More Preventive Services, Better Continuity of Care to Sicker Patients

Media Advisory
March 10, 2005

FURTHER INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Alwyn Cassil (202) 264-3484 or acassil@hschange.org

Editor’s Note: To obtain an electronic copy of the article, news reporters may e-mail Alwyn Cassil.

ASHINGTON, D.C—Federally funded community health centers (CHCs) provided more preventive services and improved the continuity and quality of care between 1994 and 2001 while treating more chronically ill patients, according to a study by a Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC) researcher published in the March/April edition of the journal Health Affairs.

The study authors—HSC Senior Researcher Ann O’Malley, M.D., M.P.H.; Christopher Forrest and Leiyu Shi of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; and Bob Politzer and John Wulu of the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration, which funded the study—examined representative samples of CHC patient records for primary care visits in 1994 and 2001. Key study findings include:

• CHC service to the uninsured increased faster than the U.S. uninsured population.
• CHCs provided more preventive services in 2001, including routine checkups, immunizations, and preventive counseling and education.
• No disparities by race/ethnicity or insurance status, and, preventive services were delivered at rates comparable to rates of delivery in private doctors’ offices.
• CHCs provided more ongoing care for established patients in 2001-more than two-thirds of all visits.
• CHCs cared for sicker patients while improving the continuity of care.

The study concluded that CHCs have increased the volume of vulnerable people served; improved their financial position by obtaining insurance for eligible patients; and improved the quality of care despite treating more chronically ill patients. Moreover, the continued expansion of the CHC safety net will have a positive and disproportionate effect on racial/ethnic minorities and the uninsured.

The Center for Studying Health System Change is a nonpartisan policy research organization committed to providing objective and timely research on the nation’s changing health system to help inform policy makers and contribute to better health care policy. HSC, based in Washington, D.C., is funded principally by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and is affiliated with Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.

Health Affairs, published by Project HOPE, is a bimonthly multidisciplinary journal devoted to publishing the leading edge in health policy thought and research. For more information, contact Jon Gardner at Health Affairs at (301) 347-3930 or via e-mail at jgardner@projecthope.org.