Massachusetts community health centers join
together at the State House to
promote the benefits of community health care
State House, Boston – Community health center representatives traveled to the State House on Thursday, February 21 to tout the quality, accessibility and cost-effectiveness of health care delivered by Massachusetts’ 49 community health centers to the Commonwealth’s most vulnerable citizens.
Joining with their colleagues, health center representatives participated in a state legislative day that included an exhibit fair of the wide range of primary care services and programs health centers provide to Medicaid, uninsured and low-income patients.
In addition, the event provided an opportunity for health centers to meet with their state legislators to stress the importance of strengthening community health center resources in difficult fiscal times. "Community health centers are the foundation of the primary care safety net, caring for thousands of uninsured patients across the state," said James W. Hunt, Jr., president and CEO of the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers. "As the state economy continues to slide, community health centers will experience a growing need for their services. We are asking state policymakers to provide us with the necessary resources it will take to meet this need in the Massachusetts communities we serve."
Health centers also took the occasion to underscore their role in generating savings for the Massachusetts health care system. Through preventive health care models that emphasize screening and management of chronic disease such as asthma and diabetes, health centers are able to minimize emergency room visits and preventable hospitalizations among their patients.
Community health centers are non-profit, community-based organizations that offer comprehensive primary and preventive health care to anyone in need regardless of their medical status, ability to pay, culture or ethnicity. Led by boards of directors chosen from within their communities, health centers strive to meet the specific health needs of the people they serve. Currently, 49 community health centers provide services at 104 sites throughout Massachusetts. In 2000, Massachusetts health centers provided 3 million visits to over 600,000 patients in need.
The event was sponsored by the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers, a statewide membership association serving and representing the needs of community health centers.
For details on 2005's State
House Day, click here.
For details on 2004's State House Day, click here.
For details on 2003's State House Day, click here.
For details on 2000's State House Day, click here.
For details on 1999's State House Day, click here.
###