Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Barriers to CHC Expansion

An article recently published in The New England Journal of Medicine discusses the President's initiative to double the number of health centers nationwide over a five-year period, expanding coverage to millions of underserved patients.

Expansion goals are hindered, however, by a shortage in primary care physicians to staff new and expanded health centers. The article quotes NACHC's senior vice president of policy, Dan Hawkins:

"CHCs meet the definition of a `medical home' as developed by primary care medical organizations, but we will not be able to reach our expansion goals if we cannot attract a greater number of clinicians to these centers and more federal support from Washington."

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