Community Health Centers: 60 Years of Expanding Access to Care Across America

When most people think about healthcare, they picture hospitals. But for more than 32 million Americans, a Community Health Center is where healthcare begins. For many communities, it’s the front door to the healthcare system. 

It’s where a newborn receives their first checkup. It’s where a child gets ready for school with routine vaccinations and preventive dental care. It’s where expectant mothers receive prenatal care. It’s where families establish long-term relationships with primary care providers. It’s where patients manage chronic conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure close to home. And for someone without insurance, it may be the place where a manageable illness is treated before it becomes a medical emergency. 

Community Health Centers exist because healthcare isn’t equally accessible everywhere. They bridge gaps created by geography, transportation, income, and one of healthcare’s biggest challenges today: clinician shortages. But healthcare isn’t experienced through statistics, it’s experienced in moments. A child wakes up sick. A working parent needs an appointment before they can return to work. An older adult needs ongoing care to manage multiple chronic conditions without traveling hours from home. Community Health Centers exist to make sure those everyday moments don’t become medical crises simply because of where someone lives.

As we celebrate National Health Center Week, it’s worth recognizing that Community Health Centers do far more than deliver primary care. They strengthen local economies, improve public health, train the next generation of healthcare professionals, and ensure millions of Americans can access care regardless of their ability to pay. For more than 60 years, they have been one of the foundations of our healthcare system, providing care where it’s needed most and serving communities that might otherwise go without. 

 What Is a Community Health Center?

A Community Health Center (CHC) is a community-based healthcare organization that provides comprehensive primary and preventive care regardless of a patient’s insurance status or ability to pay. Many Community Health Centers operate as Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) through the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), allowing them to serve medically underserved communities while meeting rigorous federal quality standards.

Unlike traditional healthcare organizations, Community Health Centers are governed by local boards, with the majority of members being patients themselves. That unique model ensures services are shaped by the communities they serve.

Today, 1,359 Community Health Center organizations operate more than 17,000 service delivery sites nationwide, providing care in urban neighborhoods, rural communities, schools, homeless shelters, and mobile clinics.

The History of Community Health Centers

The Community Health Center movement began in 1965 during President Lyndon B. Johnson’s War on Poverty. Originally known as Neighborhood Health Centers, these organizations were created to address a problem: millions of Americans had little or no access to primary healthcare because of where they lived or what they could afford. Rather than asking patients to overcome barriers like transportation, poverty, or provider shortages, Community Health Centers brought healthcare directly into underserved communities.

The original mission hasn’t changed; the challenges have. Today, Community Health Centers continue to address barriers to care while navigating clinician shortages, increasing demand for primary care, behavioral health needs, and an aging population. Their role has become even more essential as communities across the country work to improve access to care.

Where Community Health Centers Are Making the Greatest Impact

Community Health Centers serve communities of every size — from large metropolitan areas to small rural towns, agricultural regions, tribal communities, and neighborhoods where access to care has historically been limited. While their settings may differ, their mission is the same: ensuring patients can access care regardless of where they live or their ability to pay. Today, Community Health Centers operate in every state, providing millions of patients with access to affordable, comprehensive healthcare each year. 

Community Health Centers by the Numbers

Behind every statistic is a patient who received care, a family who found answers, and a community made healthier because access was available.

National Association of Community Health Centers 

Community Health Centers have become one of the nation’s largest healthcare safety nets, delivering comprehensive care while helping reduce avoidable emergency department visits and improving long-term health outcomes.

Why Community Health Centers Matter More Than Ever

Demand for primary care continues to rise while many communities struggle to recruit and retain enough clinicians. At the same time, patients are living longer with chronic conditions, behavioral health needs continue to grow, and many rural communities are facing significant provider shortages. The result is increasing pressure on organizations that already serve some of the nation’s most vulnerable populations. 

Community Health Centers are often on the front lines of that challenge.

In addition to providing routine primary care, they deliver behavioral health services, dental care, chronic disease management, preventive screenings, and enabling services such as transportation assistance and care coordination that help patients access the care they need.

One thing I’ve learned throughout my career is that access to care isn’t solved by one organization alone. Hospitals, specialists, Community Health Centers, staffing partners, educators, and technology providers each play a different role. Patients don’t experience those pieces separately. They experience one healthcare system. Community Health Centers are often the front door to that system, helping ensure patients receive the right care, at the right time, in the right place. 

The Workforce Behind Community Health Centers

Every Community Health Center depends on dedicated physicians, nurse practitioners, physician associates, dentists, behavioral health professionals, nurses, and support staff.

Together, Community Health Centers employ more than 326,000 people, making them major employers in many of the communities they serve. Yet workforce shortages remain one of their biggest challenges.

As demand for care continues to grow, maintaining access requires more than simply filling vacancies. It requires thoughtful workforce strategies that allow Community Health Centers to continue serving patients during periods of growth, parental leave, seasonal demand, and ongoing recruitment efforts. Flexible staffing solutions, including locum tenens and advanced practice clinicans, play an important role in preserving continuity of care while organizations recruit permanent providers. 

Celebrating National Health Center Week

As we celebrate National Health Center Week, perhaps the most important question is what healthcare would look like without them. 

For millions of Americans, Community Health Centers aren’t simply part of the healthcare system — they’re where healthcare begins. Their continued success depends on all of us working together to strengthen the workforce, expand access, and ensure every community has the care it deserves.