Capital Link Report Touts Economic Value of Community Health Centers in California

Sacramento, CA (PRWEB) March 13, 2017

The economic impacts of California's community health centers have been put front and center in a new Capital Link report that was released today, titled Value of Community Health Centers Today and Tomorrow. Breaking from traditional healthcare clinical metrics, the report highlights the impact health centers have on jobs and the economy, savings to the health system, and access to care for vulnerable populations.

"Capital Link demonstrates that in addition to providing quality healthcare to one in seven Californians, community health centers are an $8.2 billion economic engine that support nearly 60,000 good jobs across the state." said president and CEO Carmela Castellano-Garcia. "Quality healthcare and quality jobs, that's a win-win for California."

The statewide report shows the impact of health centers today and the potential impact if Congress and the new President roll back Medicaid eligibility to pre-Affordable Care Act (ACA) levels and reduce health centers' federal operating support by 70% tomorrow.

Key findings from the report include that California community health centers:

• Contributed more than $8 billion to the California economy and supported nearly 60,000 jobs in 2015.
• Provided $5.5 billion in savings to the Medi-Cal program and $7.5 billion in savings to the state's health system overall; and
• Increased access to care for vulnerable populations, with patient population increase of 25 percent over three years (2012-2015) and a 33 percent decline in uninsured patients over the same period.

Unfortunately, the report found that if Medicaid eligibility is rolled back to pre-Affordable Care Act levels, subsidies for insurance plans offered through the exchanges is eliminated, and health centers' federal operating support is reduced by 70 percent, the health center of tomorrow will look dramatically different than they do today. In fact, if this were to happen, the state of California would experience a $3.8 billion economic reduction and a loss of over 27,000 jobs from the community health center system alone.
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About the Report

Capital Link's report, Value of Community Health Centers Today and Tomorrow, was commissioned by CaliforniaHealth+ Advocates and the Regional Associations of California using grant funding provided by the Blue Shield of California Foundation. Capital Link used IMPLAN, an integrated economic modeling software to capture the direct, indirect, and induced economic effects of health center business operations and capital project plans. IMPLAN is widely used by economists, state and city planners, universities and others to estimate the impact of projects and expenditures on the local economy. Further information regarding data and forecasting methodology can be found in the report.
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About CaliforniaHealth+ Advocates

CaliforniaHealth+ Advocates is committed to advancing the mission of California's community health centers, who provide care to one in seven Californians each year. Community health centers provide comprehensive, high quality health care to everyone who walks through their doors, in a compassionate and culturally sensitive manner.

Community health centers include federally qualified health centers (FQHC) and FQHC look-a-likes, community clinics, free clinics, rural health clinics, migrant health centers, Indian health service clinics, and family planning clinics.
Services include comprehensive primary and preventive care, women's health, dental, mental health, substance use treatment, health education, outreach and enrollment, pharmacy and more.

CaliforniaHealth+ Advocates is an independent advocacy organization affiliated with the California Primary Care Association.

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Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2017/03/prweb14142127.htm