Carbon Medical Service Association, Inc. (CMSA) was originally founded in 1952 to serve the needs of the local coal miners and their families. Since 1992, CMSA has been operating as a Federally Qualified Health Center. CMSA is located in a medically underserved and health professional shortage area, serves Carbon County and the northeast corner of Emery County, and is located in East Carbon, 30 miles from the nearest medical service facility. In June 2003 CMSA added another site-the Helper Clinic in Helper.

Unique Characteristics
Because CMSA still cares for many miners, medical conditions that are rare in other clinics, such as Black Lung Disease and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, are common. CMSA operates an on-site full service pharmacy and two rural branch pharmacies. The rural branch pharmacies are located in the Green River Medical Center and the Helper Clinic. These branch pharmacy sites are controlled by the main pharmacy at the East Carbon site utilizing telepharmacy technology. CMSA maintains JCAHO accreditation at both the East Carbon and Helper sites.

New Developments
CMSA expanded from the Bureau of Primary Health Care's Health Disparities Diabetes Collaborative into the Helper site. East Carbon participates in the Cardiovascular Collaborative and uses the Chronic Care Model for Behavioral Health.

Implemented on-site behavioral health services through a joint venture with Green River Medical Center and Utah Navajo Health Systems, Inc.