View the press release.
Community Health Provider Alliance (CHPA) is proud to celebrate National Health Center Week (NHCW) 2024, taking place August 4-10. This annual event highlights the essential role Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), also known as Community Health Centers (CHCs), play in improving public health and advancing health equity. CHCs represent the nation’s largest primary care network, serving 31.5 million patients nationwide.
This year’s NHCW celebration, launched by the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC), focuses on ‘Powering Communities Through Caring Connections’ with a host of scheduled events, including resource fairs, back-to-school drives, health screenings, and visits to CHCs by local, state, and national leaders. To find a health center in your county, view the Colorado CHC map and visit your local CHCs website to learn more about NHCW events taking place during the week of August 4-10, 2024.
With a mission to make high-quality, affordable care available to everyone regardless of their ability to pay or insurance status, CHCs save lives on the front lines of our nation’s most pressing public health challenges. They are powered by a workforce of dedicated professionals who reach beyond the walls of the exam room to not only prevent illness but also address the social drivers that may cause it — climate change, homelessness, substance use disorders, food insecurity, and behavioral health.
As the nonprofit Accountable Care Organization (ACO) for Colorado CHCs, CHPA helps power communities through caring connections with its mission of improving the quality and cost of care for the people their members serve. They do this by helping their member CHCs enter various value-based care contracts, setting quality goals to maximize performance, and reinvesting the additional revenue into their systems. CHPA’s member CHCs provide a healthcare home to over 857,000 Coloradans, operating approximately 250 community, migrant, homeless, indigenous, and school-based clinic sites across rural and urban Colorado. By overcoming barriers such as cost, lack of insurance, distance, and language, CHPA’s members ensure critical primary care access for their patients.
“The CHC movement is made up of organizations and partners deeply committed to making the healthcare delivery system work better for more people. [CS1] At CHPA, we are happy to empower our member CHCs with enhanced resources, enabling them to more effectively care for their patients and the communities they are an integral part of,” said Brandi Apodaca, Chief Operating Officer at CHPA.
Colorado CHCs serve one in seven Coloradans and are an important part of the state’s healthcare system. They promote wellness, prevent and treat illness, help patients and communities respond to infectious diseases, and integrate medical, dental, and behavioral healthcare. Colorado CHCs provided almost 2.8 million clinic and virtual visits in 2023. This includes:
- Operating 247 clinic sites in 47 Colorado counties and caring for patients living in 63 counties.
- Offering dental services at 128 sites in 41 counties, serving 165,000 patients.
- Providing behavioral health at 201 clinics in 42 counties, providing behavioral health and substance use disorder (SUD) services to 105,000 patients.
To learn more about CHPA and its members, visit www.chpanetwork.com. To learn more about the mission and accomplishments of CHCs nationally, visit http://www.nachc.org/. You can learn more about NHCW and view a listing of events at www.healthcenterweek.org. #NHCW24 #ValueCHCs #CoCHCs
References:
- National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) – National Health Center Week Website
- Colorado Community Health Network (CCHN) – CCHN 2024 Brochure
