Healthcare Design - November 2023 - 35

I N F O CUS
S T R A T E G I C A PPR O A C H E S to D E S I GN C H A L L E N GE S
WHEN AMERICANS EXPERIENCE a disparity in
their access to healthcare, many utilize the support
of community health centers. These nonprofit
organizations offer high-quality medical
care to patients who may not otherwise be able
to afford or access care, such as primary medical
care, pharmacies, dental and mental health services,
and specialty clinics.
According to the National Association of Community
Health Centers (Bethesda, Md.), one in
11 Americans is a health center patient. Of those
patients, 59 percent are publicly insured, 90 percent
are low income, 65 percent are members of
racial/ethnic minority groups, and 42 percent live
in rural communities. The same study showed
that health centers provide care for 1.3 million
unhoused people, 8.6 million children, 400,000
veterans, and 3.3 million elderly patients.
Even with this breadth of services and patient
populations, the extent to which a community
utilizes a community health center and its services
is dependent upon how visible and approachable
the clinic is to the people it serves.
PLANNING AND DESIGN
BUILDING BLOCKS
Community health centers play an important role in expanding care
access, while requiring specific design approaches tailored to their
unique patient populations and care offerings By Dulcye Rodriguez
ROLE OF COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTERS
For decades, community health centers have
been on the front lines of addressing the country's
most prevalent health concerns. For example,
these facilities take care of emergent
medical needs during natural disasters and
support people impacted by the opioid and HIV
epidemics, and, most recently, the COVID-19
pandemic. Data from the National Association
of Community Health Centers found that community
health centers across the country have
administered 22.2 million COVID-19 vaccines
and 20 million tests and distributed 7.2 million
N95 masks to patients who may not have otherwise
had access to these life-saving necessities.
That role of supporting underserved populations
continues to grow, too. In 2021, the use of
community health centers rose to the highest
number of patients ever recorded in a calendar
year, representing a 1.2 percent increase from
pre-pandemic visits, according to the Kaiser
Family Foundation. Much of this growth, the
Foundation notes, can be attributed
to the nationwide increase in the
need for behavioral health and substance
abuse treatment services.
NOVEMBER 2023
35
DAVID SENIOR

Healthcare Design - November 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Healthcare Design - November 2023

Healthcare Design - November 2023 - Cover1
Healthcare Design - November 2023 - Cover2
Healthcare Design - November 2023 - 1
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Healthcare Design - November 2023 - Cover3
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