Bronx Community Based Health Centers Celebrate National Health Center Week

Contact: - Fred Yaeger
          Emma Perrott
          (914) 423 - 7972

August 5, 2004 -- Bronx Community Based Health Centers Celebrate National Health Center Week Community Health Centers Reach At-Risk Populations And Deliver Quality Health Care

Health Centers Are Economic And Business Anchors In The Community

Community based health centers are non-profit health care practices that provide comprehensive primary health care and specialty care in neighborhoods in the Bronx that are medically underserved. In addition to the vital medical care they provide, the health centers are also economic and business anchors, as they provide modern and up to date medical facilities and employment opportunities in the communities they are located in and serve.

The health centers and manage care plans participating are: Morris Heights Health Center, Soundview Healthcare Network, Mercy Community Care, Promesa, Martin Luther King Health Center Incorporated, Urban Health Plan Incorporated, Institute for Urban Family Health, Comprehensive Family Care Center, Hunts Point Multiservice Center, Bronx Community Health Network, Montefiore Comprehensive Health Center, Affinity, Center Care, Health Plus and Health First.
   
Community health centers are making a real difference in the lives of the people they serve. The centers are providing a wide range of primary and preventive care services in a one-stop framework that aims to meet community needs. Services include: physician care, laboratory, case management, transportation for health services, preventive services (mammography, well-child, etc.), x-ray, immunizations, family planning, translation services and specialty referrals. Some community health centers also offer dental care, behavioral health care and inpatient physician services. They also provide enabling services designed to help patients gain access to health care through outreach, health education, transportation, translation services and case management.

The specialty of community health centers has always been their ability to reach at-risk populations and deliver quality health care. In New York State for example, 68% of the patients served by health centers have incomes below the federal poverty level. More than 67% of the patients served are members of racial or ethnic minority groups, 33.4% of health center patients are African American, 33.3% are Hispanic/Latino and 27.9% are White.

Health centers provide health care to people of all ages:
11.5% are under 5 years of age,
15.8% are between the ages of 5-12 years,
11.7% are between the ages of 13-19 years of age,
8.0% are between 20-24 years of age,
28.3% are between 25-44 years of age,
17.7% are between 45-64 years of age and
7.0% are 65 years or older.
   
Health centers control health care costs by providing primary and prevention services, reducing the need for more costly hospital care in the future. It is estimated that health centers save almost $3 billion annually in combined federal and state Medicaid expenditures due to reduced specialty care referrals and fewer hospital admissions.

The need to support ‘National Health Center Week’ couldn’t come at a more critical time, as health centers face unprecedented fiscal pressures and record patient demand. At the same time, tens of thousands of New Yorkers have lost their health insurance benefits and are now faced with diminished healthcare options and forced to pay record out of pocket healthcare costs.

Nearly one million newly uninsured patients nationwide have sought care at health centers in the last three years. Some health centers are reporting uninsured patient increases of up to 73 percent. Health centers are also struggling with cutbacks in Medicaid or rollbacks of eligibility, combined with state budget shortfalls. There are not enough health centers for the people who need them.




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