RCHN Community Health Foundation (New York, NY) announced the release of Strengthening Primary Care to Bend the Cost Curve: The Expansion of Community Health Centers Through Health Reform. The document presents an analysis by the Geiger Gibson/RCHN Community Health Foundation Research Collaborative at The George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services concerning how the expansion of community health centers will help two primary challenges of recently enacted health care reform: cost containment and ensuring an adequate number of primary care providers to meet service demands.

In this opinion piece, Michael O. Sullivan, the CEO of Golden Valley Health Centers in California, discusses the key role community health centers play in achieving the cost savings projected in the health care reform legislation. Mr. Sullivan references the recent Collaborative study, "Strengthening Primary Care to Bend the Cost Curve: The Expansion of Community Health Centers through Health Reform," that estimates the cost savings projected by the expansion of community health centers.

Susan Hutson, director of marketing and development for Premier Community Healthcare Group, Inc. in Dade City, Fla., posted a blog regarding the Collaborative's policy research brief, “Strengthening Primary Care to Bend the Cost Curve: The Expansion of Community Health Centers Through Health Reform.”

In this blog, Floyd Malveaux, MD, PhD, executive director of the Merck Childhood Asthma Network, Inc. (MCAN), focuses on the need for sound public health principles to improve the lives of children and others with asthma. Dr. Malveaux references the recent report by The George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services, supported by MCAN and the RCHN Community Health Foundation (RCHN CHF), which provides guidance on what be done on the national level.

In advance of the final rule regarding the implementation of medical homes within the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), researchers at The George Washington University (GWU), Department of Health Policy have identified major opportunities to advance high-quality, cost-efficient health care for children with asthma through medical homes. A new brief, supported by the Merck Childhood Asthma Network and RCHN CHF, “The Affordable Care Act, Medical Homes and Childhood Asthma: A Key Opportunity for Progress,” focuses on how the medical home model facilitates comprehensive, patient-centered care by fostering partnerships between and amongst patients, primary care doctors including pediatricians, specialists and emergency and other services.

WASHINGTON and NEW YORK – Two of the pressing challenges facing the nation with the enactment of health care reform are whether the U.S. will have enough primary care providers and whether health care costs can be contained. A new analysis released by the Geiger Gibson/ RCHN Community Health Foundation Research Collaborative at the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services, indicates that the expansion of community health centers will make a major contribution towards addressing both problems.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) issued a news release in conjunction with the press briefing he sponsored to announce the Collaborative’s report, Strengthening Primary Care to Bend the Cost Curve: The Expansion of Community Health Centers Through Health Reform.

The National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) issued a release to announce the Capitol Hill briefing held June 30 to present the Collaborative’s report, Strengthening Primary Care to Bend the Cost Curve: The Expansion of Community Health Centers Through Health Reform, focusing on the impact of community health center expansion on health care access and long-term health care costs.

This webcast will feature Dr. Leighton Ku, lead author of the report “Strengthening Primary Care to Bend the Cost Curve: The Expansion of Community Health Centers Through Health Reform,” recently released by the Geiger-Gibson/ RCHN Community Health Foundation Research Collaborative.

Joining Dr. Ku to provide expert commentary will be Dan Hawkins, Sr. Vice President of the National Association of Community Health Centers. This report indicates that the expansion of community health centers will make a major contribution toward bolstering the capacity of the nation’s primary care system and reducing the long term growth in health care costs by increasing the number of patients receiving primary care at CHCs by at least 18 million by the end of the decade, and reducing total national medical costs by more than $180 billion over the next ten years.

To access an archived recording and slides from this session, visit the library at our partner site, Clinical Directors Network.