Federal Community Health Centers and State Health Policy: A Primer for Policy Makers

Federally funded community health centers connect 16 million people throughout the U.S. and its territories with primary health care services and form much of the fabric of the country’s health care safety net. Although the federal community health center program was initiated with very little state input and involvement more than 40 years ago, this relationship is changing. The ties between state governments and health centers have grown over the years as states have worked to increase coverage and access to care, and as the health centers’ dependence on state Medicaid payments and grants has increased. This overview of federally funded community health centers is intended to help inform state policy decision making as it affects health centers, including ways that policy makers can work with health centers as an important component of their state’s health delivery system and reform plans. This primer was developed through a National Cooperative Agreement (NCA) sponsored by the Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) Bureau of Primary Health Care (BPHC).  

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