FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

Contact: Michael King, 240-571-9542 

The National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) applauds the President and the bipartisan and bicameral coalition of support for securing increased funding for our nation’s 1,512 Community Health Centers (CHCs) that deliver care at more than 17,000 locations in every state and territory.  

The Consolidated Appropriations Act bill’s $4.6 billion for CHCs will ensure continued access to affordable, comprehensive and effective care for patients in rural, urban, suburban, mountain, frontier, and island communities. This is the largest increase in the Community Health Center Fund in a decade. Other critical investments included in the Act:  

• $350 million in base funding for the National Health Service Corps in 2026 

• $225 million in FY 2026 funding for the Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education program, with additional funding in future years 

• An extension of Medicare telehealth flexibilities through 2027 

The expanded funding paves the way for critical investments in CHC care delivery and its professional workforce, which serve as the largest primary care network in the United States.   

CHCs provide care to 52 million people nationwide—1 in every 7 Americans, 1 in 3 living in rural areas—and employ a skilled workforce of at least 326,000 professionals across the country. CHCs save lives and reduce overall health care costs, while accounting for only 1% of total U.S. health care spending, saving Medicaid and Medicare billions by reducing avoidable emergency and inpatient care.  

### 

About NACHC 

NACHC’s mission is to champion Community Health Centers delivering affordable, effective, comprehensive primary care that is community-driven and improves health for all.  For more information, visit www.nachc.org. 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Michael King at 240-571-9542

“The National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) applauds passage of the Consolidated Appropriations Act and its bipartisan commitment to strengthening primary care nationwide. The bill’s $4.6 billion for Community Health Centers will help ensure continued access to affordable, comprehensive care for patients in rural areas and with limited access to health care. The Act also makes important investments in the National Health Service Corps and the Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education program—critical for expanding the primary care workforce—and extends Medicare telehealth policies, which remain essential for seniors’ access to care. 

 NACHC thanks bipartisan congressional leaders for recognizing the indispensable role of Community Health Centers in supporting the nation’s primary care infrastructure.” 

About NACHC 

NACHC’s mission is to champion Community Health Centers delivering affordable, effective, comprehensive primary care that is community-driven and improves health for all.  

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                          ​

Contact: Michael King at 240-571-9542

NACHC Programming Highlights Innovation, Health for All and Patient-Centered Care at J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference and Patient Townhall 

SAN FRANCISCO—The National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) brought patient voices to J.P. Morgan’s 44th Annual Healthcare Conference in San Francisco on January 12–13, 2026, joining industry leaders and investors to shape the future of health care delivery and financing. For the first time, Community Health Center (CHC) patient stories were highlighted as part of the event, underscoring the significant health, economic and community impact of CHCs as the nation’s largest primary care system.

CHCs serve 52 million people or 1 in 7 Americans (including 1 in 3 in rural America) with a workforce of at least 326,000 across 17,000 locations nationwide. They save the U.S. health system lives and money and cost a mere 1-2%—or an estimated $58 billion—of all U.S. health care spending, while delivering affordable, comprehensive, effective primary care to patients, families, and communities in rural, urban, suburban, mountain, frontier, and island communities across our country.

Over 60 years and through patient-governed boards, CHCs have grown to become the most innovative and best part of our health system. At a time where there is a trust, affordability, and accessibility crisis in U.S. health care, CHCs represent the best local and national partners of choice for all stakeholders across the U.S. health system.

The NACHC events kicked off with a Manatt and Ignite luncheon and interactive discussion around Fueling What’s Next: Transforming Healthcare Through Collaboration. The dialogue included innovators, investors, and health care leaders who explored how partnerships can drive meaningful change and collaboration across CHCs, startups, and the health system.

A two-panel event at North East Medical Services (NEMS), the largest CHC in San Francisco, focused on amplifying patient perspectives within the broader health care innovation, investment, and partnership dialogue. Panelists included Johanna Liu, President and CEO of the San Francisco Community Clinic Consortium (SFCCC), and longtime health center CEOs Jane Garcia of La Clinica De La Raza and Harold Wallace of Marin City Health and Wellness Center.

“Patient boards are an essential part of our mission,” Jane Garcia told the audience. “For us, that’s part of our mission. The federal requirement is a 51% patient majority, but we exceed that. It keeps us honest. Our board members are very good about calling us out on things that need to be improved and they ask tough questions.”

“If it wasn’t for CHCs, people would be left outside of the system. Without sliding scale fees making care affordable, those individuals would be at a hospital getting costlier care. We’re making a difference. A sliding scale is another way of giving a discount for the comprehensive care services we offer under one roof,” said Harold Wallce, from Marin City Health and Wellness Center.

The CEO panel was followed by a panel of CHC board members, who described how their patient experiences inspired a sense of mission to serve on the governing board. Some highlights include:

John Baretta, Patient and Board Member,Equity Health, SFCCC Consumer Advisory Panel. “One day I realized I couldn’t afford my insurance. So, I looked up health clinics and found a Community Health Center. I found it had more to offer than a primary care doctor—it’s a one stop shop for many reasons. There is a dental department, labs, it’s a clean and modern clinic that I am proud to be a board member of. What I appreciate most is that it’s become a second family to me.”

Beth Rosales, Board Member, Asian Health Services. “I never imagined I’d need a CHC after my career as foundation executive, but nearly 20 years ago my primary care doctor referred me to one after I developed a lung disease. The quality of care—from my doctor who’s also the Chief Medical Officer to services in 14 languages—rivals anything I experienced before. What impresses me most is how we address the whole person: mental health, food distribution for cultural staples the food banks don’t carry, our own dental academy, and even tech support to keep our community connected.”

Michael Chi, Board Member, NEMS, “I am a patient and very proud to serve on the board for 35 years. Our health center is patient first and works hard to meet their needs. We just opened Sunday hours for the patients and have a 24/7 call center to make appointments, so there’s always a doctor available. That’s helping the patients.”

Another highlight of NACHC’s activities was participation in the Future of Medicaid Innovation Forum 2026. The event—an exploration of Medicaid as a moonshot—brought together leaders across policy, community health, technology, and investment to explore how AI and partnership can expand access, lower costs, and improve outcomes for Medicaid, Medicare, and rural communities.

CHCs are a lifeline for the more than 10 million patients living in rural America who receive care at a local health center. Co-chair of the Rural Health Transformation Group, David Rhew, MD, Global Chief Medical Officer at Microsoft and NACHC Consultant Isaiah Nathaniel underscored how multi-sector alliances across health care organizations, technology innovators, retailers, and community parters are fundamentally reimagining how care is delivered in rural America. Sean Roddy, Chief Financial Officer at NACHC, and Taylor McPartland, CEO of ScaleHealth, went on to note how partnerships like ScaleHealth’s accelerator program are driving solutions to improve access, affordability, and outcomes.

Panelist Johanna Liu said it best: “We’re in the business of scaling trust.”

About NACHC 

NACHC’s mission is to champion Community Health Centers delivering affordable, effective, comprehensive primary care that is community-driven and improves health for all. precisely the conditions treated by drugs included in the rebate pilot. 

NACHC Calls for Exemption from 340B Rebate Model That Threatens Patient Care 

BETHESDA, MD—The National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) is calling on pharmaceutical manufacturers and the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to exempt Community Health Centers (CHCs) from the upcoming 340B Rebate Model Pilot Program, warning that the proposed changes could jeopardize access to life-saving medications for millions of low-income Americans.  

NACHC has galvanized thousands of CHC professionals and patients from around the country to raise awareness about how the rebate model pilot threatens the availability of affordable medications for patients and fundamentally shifts how CHCs access 340B savings. To date, CHC supporters have already sent more than 35,000 emails asking drugmakers to drop the rebate model and HRSA to exclude CHCs from the rebate model pilot program set to launch next month. 

The 340B Drug Pricing Program has served as a vital lifeline for CHCs for more than three decades, enabling them to provide affordable, often free, medications to low-income patients with chronic illness. The program’s upfront discounts have been the bedrock of CHCs’ financial stability, allowing them to stretch scarce federal resources and reinvest savings into critical primary care services. Under the rebate model, CHCs would be forced to pay the full Wholesale Acquisition Cost (WAC) for certain covered drugs upfront, then submit extensive purchase and claims data and wait for manufacturers to issue rebates.  

In addition to appeals to HRSA and drug manufacturers participating in the rebate program, NACHC CEO Kyu Rhee, MD, MPP, has also called on Walgreens to reconsider its decision to stop processing 340B contract pharmacy claims for drugs in the pilot program, noting that 86% of CHCs rely on contract pharmacies to serve patients across hundreds of zip codes. 

“This impact will be especially severe in rural communities where CHCs serve 1 in 3, and rural patients have much higher rates of hypertension, heart disease, and diabetes,” wrote Dr. Rhee in a letter to Walgreens CEO Mike Motz. “These arrangements leverage the footprint of large chains like Walgreens to assist patients who often face transportation and other non-clinical barriers to care. The recent decision by Walgreens will have a significant impact on these patients and the CHCs that serve them.”  

The proposed rebate model threatens to: 

• Create cash flow crises by forcing CHCs to pay high upfront costs they cannot afford 

• Reduce the volume and range of drugs CHC pharmacies can stock 

• Eliminate steep medication discounts required by law for underserved populations 

• Impose costly administrative burdens during an existing workforce shortage crisis among CHCs  

CHCs currently serve 52 million or 1 in 7 Americans, including over 20 million people in poverty and 1 in 3 rural residents. Ninety percent of CHC patients nationwide live at or below 200% of the federal poverty level, and many disproportionately suffer from chronic conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, and kidney failure—precisely the conditions treated by drugs included in the rebate pilot. 

About NACHC 

NACHC’s mission is to champion Community Health Centers delivering affordable, effective, comprehensive primary care that is community-driven and improves health for all.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Alexandra Walker 718-938-2820                                                          

MINNEAPOLIS, MN — Amid growing financial pressure and rapid change across the health care landscape, the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) has convened a brain trust of 300 primary care leaders to discuss bold strategies to turbocharge America’s health system by strengthening and expanding the nation’s largest primary care provider: Community Health Centers (CHCs).

The 2025 NACHC Partner Conference and Strategy Meeting gathers state/regional Primary Care Associations (PCAs), Health Center Controlled Networks (HCCNs), and National Technical Assistance Partners (NTAPs) to address emerging issues in community health and develop collaborative solutions. The event advances NACHC’s goal of positioning CHCs as the employers, providers, and partners of choice for the up to 1 in 7 patients they serve, the 330,000-strong workforce they employ, and the communities they impact through more than 17,000 locations.

This year NACHC has invited the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), led by Executive Vice President and CEO, Shawn Martin, to promote closer collaboration between the state AAFP chapters and the PCAs around promising care models and advocacy. Anchoring the conversation about how to expand CHC patients served and address the crises in primary care access and chronic disease rates is Dr. Asaf Bitton, executive director of Ariadne Labs. Dr. Bitton is joining the Strategy Meeting to rally attendees in support of the “Triple Double,” which sets audacious but achievable goals to transform American primary care by 2030:

• Double Primary Care spend (from ~5% to 10%)
• Double the number of people cared for at CHCs annually (from ~10% to 20%)
• Double the percentage of new physicians entering primary care (from ~20%-40%)

The Triple Double goals are undergirded by data analysis provided by the Robert Graham Center, Milbank Memorial Fund, and the NACHC Dr. John W. Hatch Center for Science.

“Primary care is literally a matter of life and death, yet we’re systematically underinvesting in the foundation of our health care system,” said Kyu Rhee, MD, MPP, President and CEO of NACHC. “For six decades, Community Health Centers have proven they can save lives while reducing overall health care costs. With adequate resources, CHCs are positioned to grow and confront the nation’s dual challenges of limited primary care access and rising chronic disease. This week’s gathering brings together leading experts and practitioners to boldly envision what the health center movement can accomplish over the next 60 years.”

This year’s Strategy Meeting will continue advancing NACHC’s strategic framework through discussion and strategic co-design around three focus areas:

• Policy (to include funding, Medicaid eligibility requirements, 340B)
• Practice enablement (to include value-based care, data, health IT, AI)
• Partner opportunities (to include innovation, TechQuity, and opportunities to leverage the CHC movement’s collective buying power)

A highlight for attendees is a special screening of “Doc Albany,” a documentary directed by two-time Academy Award winner Ben Proudfoot, that tells a story of hope, innovation, and possibility for rural health care. The film focuses on two of the inspiring physicians at Albany Area Primary Health Care in Georgia, one of the many CHCs that collectively provide care to up to 1 in 3 rural Americans.

NACHC and partners are united in our view that CHCs offer an impactful model for excellence in access and health care for all.