Undergoing transformation to the patient centered medical home in safety net health centers: Perspectives from the front lines

The community health center movement, initiated in 1965, provided a system of federally qualified health centers (FQHC), which were designed to reduce health disparities among racial/ethnic minority groups, the poor, and uninsured by providing affordable, accessible, and high quality primary care services.1 The FQHC system has grown to provide primary care service to over 20 million patients at over 8,000 sites.2 These organizations are collectively referred to as safety net health centers (SNHCs), and include rural and migrant clinics, free clinics, and county health clinics. To enhance capacity to provide affordable, accessible, and quality service, many FQHCs and other SNHCs are embracing the patient centered medical home (PCMH) model. Click here to read more.