Health

HEALTH • September 21, 2015 21 49 located in Massachusetts. But the development of community health cen- ters was a grassroots effort, too. Antonia McGuire, CEO of the Worcester-based Edward M. Kennedy Community Health Center (CHC), got involved in community health centers in the 1980s, at a time when groups of women were working as commu- nity organizers to increase health care resources for women and children. The Edward M. Kennedy CHC was born of this movement, starting in the Great Brook Valley pub- lic housing development in Worcester at a time when primary care options for low-income people in the city were fewer. Saint Vincent Hospital and UMass Memorial Medical Center were smaller at that time, said McGuire, a registered nurse who joined the organization in 2008. "It was a very different dynamic in that day, but it was pretty clear that primary care was needed for poor people," McGuire said. Open to all But today, McGuire and other say that commu- nity health centers are not just for the poor. McGuire said that insurance status isn't a consideration at Kennedy CHC, and that goes for the commercially insured and the remaining uninsured alike. She noted that often, patients have insurance but lack a primary care physician, and so they turn to their local community health center. "I would say that everyone is welcome through our doors," McGuire said. Hunt, the CEO of the League, said community health centers are seeing a palpable increase in the number of commercially-insured patients, which he attributes to centers' state-of-the-art facilities and the status of many CHCs as teaching institu- tions, affiliated with medical schools. Scale is another advantage, Hunt said. Community health centers are often large enough to form medi- cal teams, including doctors, nurse practitioners and behavioral health specialists. This approach is thought to improve a patient's outlook. At the Family Health Center of Worcester, as much as 15 percent of patients are commercially insured, said CEO Frances Anthes, who has worked at the center since 1991. Those patients usually choose Family Health Center for care because it's a teaching health center, which usually means the quality of care is a cut above non-teaching providers, Anthes said. They also have access to many types of specialty care through the health center, for a one- stop shopping experience. And finally, the commu- nity health center approach is a democratic one. Fifty-one percent of community health center gov- erning board members must be patients themselves. "It turns that traditional medical model a little bit Antonia McGuire, CEO of Worcester 's Edward M. Kennedy CHC, says both insured and uninsured patients are welcome. The flagship Worcester office of the Family Health Center provides both general and specialty care in one location. COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTERS, BY THE NUMBERS The number of community health center organizations in Massachusetts The number of Massachusetts access sites Latest round of funding for community health center expansion projects under the Affordable Care Act The number of people served by U.S. community health centers annually nationwide The number of people served by Massachusetts community health centers annually Total active federal grants held by Massachusetts community health centers 49 285 $500M 23M 880,000 $503.2M Sources: Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Continued on Page 29 PHOTO/EDD COTE

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