Community Health Centers Provide Quality Care...

• Medicaid patients at community health care centers are 22% less likeley to be hospitalized for potentially avoidable conditions than Medicaid patients who get care elsewhere.
• Uninsured adults are more likely to receive counseling on lifestyle issues (diet, exercise, smoking, substance abuse, and STDs) than uninsured adults who seek care elsewhere.

• Women are significantly more likely to receive mammograms, clinical breast exams, and up-to-date Pap smears at community health centers, at a rate that far exceeds the national rate for comparable women.

  (Source: "Inequality in America: the Contribution of Health Centers in Reducing and Eliminating Health Disparities in access to Care", Medical Care Research and Review, June 2001

Community Health Centers Quality of Care is Monitored...

• Federal funds come with strict fiscal governance and patient care standards
• Governemnt agencies monitor centers more stringently than private practice physicians
• Community health centers undergo annual monitoring by HMOs, government agencies, and financial auditors
• Backgroud and credentialing checks for physicians, dentists, and other center providers are among the most strict and extensive
• Hawai'i centers will achieve JCAHO accreditation -- the highest standard for medical facilities -- by 2005

 

Community Health Centers are Cost Effective...

• Community Health Centers save the Medicaid program 30% in annual spending, per beneficiary, due to reduced specialty care referrals and fewer hospitalization and emergency room admissions
• In Hawai'i, they serve the hardest-to-reach population at an average cost of only $677 per patient per year -- or $56 per month
• In 1998, Hawai'i hospitals lost nearly $7 million to care for 700 uninsured patients admitted for conditions that could have been prevented
• Can provide Comptrehensive Care including physical, behavioral, social, and educational services during a single patient visi, rather than having to schedule multiple visits

 

Community Health Centers are Stable...

• Must follow stringent Federal Requirements and Standards
• Held accountable by Community Governance
• Has a strong Statewide Network throughout Hawai'i
• Hawai'i opened its first Community Health Center in 1972
• No Community Health Center in Hawai'i has ever closed
• Due in part to the committment of the federal government
• 26% of funding comes from federal grants
• Federal funds are stable and long-term

 

Community Health Centers are Flexible...

• They can respond quickly, in a cost-effective manner, to urgent community needs
• Through the Immigrant Health Initative Community Health Centers serve more than 1,300 immigrant patients annually
• When the State moved to expand nutrition services for the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program, they turned to the Community Health Centers. Six centers now provide WIC program services
• When the State sought for a cost-effective way to address the need for donated and low-cost medication for low-income families, they turned to the Community Helath Centers to administer the Medicine Bank

Community Health Centers are Economic Engines...

• In 2000, Community Health Centers directly contributed $43.7 million and 646 jobs to the economy
• Community Health Centers indirectly contributed $84.5 million and 1,043 jobs in 2000
• Community Health Centers serve as primary employers in their communities, with staff size ranging from 10 to 264 full-time employees
• Community Health Centers specialize in training and employing welfare recipients
• The Wai'anae Coast Community Health Center is the largest employer on the Leeward Coast
• Kokua Kalihi Valley (KKV) expended $6 million building new facilities on what was once a run-down site on a major throughfare, expanding services as and visually improving the community
• Bay Clinic recruits more than 80% of its employees from its immediate community

 

MOST IMPORTANT

Community Health Centers Serve EVERYONE

Source:HPCA Presentation

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