Community health centers as primary providers of health care

In their essay, Shelly Raymer Duncan and Cinthia L. Deye examine the experience of community health centers as primary providers of health care. These centers provide quality health care for their clientele and operate in an efficient manner. The authors argue that community health centers are a viable mechanism for the provision of comprehensive quality primary care for underserved persons. For some consumers, community health centers represent their only real choice for health care services, when their other options include no health care at all or severe financial duress. She directs the association’s efforts for implementation of technical services and related activities involving key association staff, association members, and agencies of local, state, and federal government. Prior to her current position, she served as director of plan development and compliance for Community Health Choice in Chicago, an HMO contracted with the State of Illinois. She is working on both an M.D. degree at the U of I College of Medicine and a Ph.D. in the Department of Community Health with a focus in health policy. Her research is on the impact of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program on health disparities among low-income children in Illinois. She recently co-authored the article, “The State Children’s Health Insurance Program: an Administrative Experiment in Federalism,” published in theU. of Illinois Law Review.