A new report released as part of the  Geiger Gibson RCHN Community Health Foundation Research Collaborative’s signature policy brief series examines  the continued growth of community health centers in 2017.  Based on newly released data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Uniform Data System, the report documents a five percent growth in  the number of patients served between 2016 and 2017 and a near-tripling of the number of patients served between 2000 and 2017. Between 2010 and 2017, the number of Medicaid and privately insured patients served increased by 78 percent and 77 percent, respectively.  Health centers serve one in every five uninsured people and, while the proportion of uninsured patients has steadily declined as a result of the ACA, health centers continue to treat large numbers of patients without health insurance – 6.2 million in 2017. The ACA adult Medicaid expansion continues to be associated with far more robust growth in capacity; health centers in expansion states show substantially greater patient care capacity.

Download the report here.