KFF January 6, 2025
Key Takeaways
Community health centers are a national network of over 1,300 safety-net primary care providers, serving more than 31 million patients in 2023. They are located in medically underserved urban and rural communities and serve all patients regardless of their ability to pay, providing a range of medical, behavioral, and supportive services. This brief reports on health center patients, services, experiences, and financing in 2023 and analyzes changes from 2019 (pre-pandemic) through 2023 using data from the Uniform Data System (UDS), to which all health centers are required to report annually, and the 2022 Health Center Patient Survey. Key takeaways include the following:
- The health center patient population increased to over 31 million patients in 2023, up slightly...