What do studies say about the effect of health centers in underserved communities?
According to the National Association of Community Health Centers, health centers provide care for 41 percent less than equivilent care provided elsewhere and save the health care system between $9.9 billion and $17.6 billion each year. Much of these savings come through reduced uncompensated care and less cost to Medicaid and SCHIP programs. Health centers also provide an boost in economically deprived neighborhoods, providing 143,000 jobs and generating $12.6 billion in economic activity. They predict that given increased funding, health centers could serve an additional 14 million people by 2015, saving the health care system $22.6 billion to $40.4 billion annually and generating an economic impact of $40.7 billion and providing the equivilent of 460,000 full-time jobs. In addition to the economic impact of health centers, health outcomes of those served by health centers are often improved relative to similar populations not served by a health center. For example, communities with
