March 13, 2018
Drawing on federal health center data from 2016 and the Health Center Patient Survey from 2009 and 2014, this brief describes health centers and their patients in 2016 and examines changes in access to care and utilization of services by health center patients following implementation of the ACA coverage expansions in 2014.
Key findings include:
- Health centers are an important source of primary care for Medicaid and uninsured patients.
- Medicaid and Federal Section 330 grant funds account for the majority of health center revenues.
- Health centers in Medicaid expansion states have greater operational capacity and serve more patients than health centers in non-expansion states.
- The ability of health center patients to access needed care improved following implementation of the ACA coverage expansions.
- Utilization of certain preventive services by health center patients increased.
The report was authored by researchers at Milken Institute School of Public Health at The George Washington University (GW) and the Kaiser Family Foundation. Additional funding support was provided by the RCHN Community Health Foundation.
The brief is available on the KFF site, or download a copy here.
