Community health centers have long played a critical role in promoting community-wide health and reducing health disparities, serving communities with high concentrations of poverty, racial and ethnic minority populations, elevated risk of poor health, few health care and social service resources, and limited access to affordable insurance coverage. Using recent data from HRSA, this data note focuses on the early impact of COVID-19 on health centers across the country, explores the importance of health centers in serving the low-income and racial/ethnic minority patients populations disproportionately affected by COVID-19 cases, and highlights the need for greater federal investment to strengthen and expand health center capacity in underserved communities.
The data note was authored by Peter Shin, Jessica Sharac, Rebecca Morris, Maria Velasquez, Sara Rosenbaum, Feygele Jacobs.