Community-Based Health Centers (CHCs) provide access to case-managed, family-oriented preventive and primary health care services for people living in medically underserved communities. Utah's CHCs are:

Responsive . . . Each health center is governed by a local board of directors. The majority of board members are center patients who live in the community.

Improving Access and Reducing Health Disparities . . . CHCs provide care for individuals and families who may not have access to other providers, such as rural/frontier residents, the working poor and uninsured, as well as vulnerable and high-risk populations (i.e., pregnant women, migrant and seasonal farm workers, homeless, elderly and persons with HIV/AIDS).

• CHCs serve over 88,742 Utah residents.

• CHCs provide culturally appropriate services.

• The rate of low birth weight babies delivered by Utah's community health centers is 4.8 percent. The State rate is 7.0 percent.

Cost-Effective . . . CHCs provide high quality care through a proven cost-effective model. National studies demonstrate that CHC patients:

• Incur hospital care costs at 41 percent less than Medicaid patients.
• Have 38 percent fewer hospital admissions than Medicaid patients.

• Have 31 percent fewer ER visits than Medicaid patients.

Accountable . . . CHCs meet high standards of accountability through oversight by local boards of directors and the U.S. Public Health Service.

• In 2000, all seven of Utah's Community Health Centers attained JCAHO (Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations) accreditation.

CHCs' services are provided on an ability-to-pay basis. Medicare and Medicaid, as well as other insurance, are billed for those with coverage. Patients are charged on a sliding-fee scale to ensure that income or insufficient insurance coverage are not barriers to care.