Friends of Michigan’s Community Health Centers PAC was created with the mission of helping to elect candidates to the Michigan Legislature who understand the importance of Health Centers and who support the delivery of primary care to the state’s medically underserved and uninsured residents.

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As health center leaders, the importance of our participation in the political process is crucial for many reasons.  By developing relationships with policymakers, we can assist them in developing policy that impacts our core mission: accessibility, capacity, quality, and delivery of healthcare in Michigan.  There is strength in numbers and our PAC allows us to pool our resources and influence public policy. 

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About Community Health Centers

Community health centers (sometimes called by their formal name, Federally Qualified Health Centers) are community-based and patient-directed organizations that deliver comprehensive primary care and other integrated healthcare services including oral health, behavioral health, substance use. Health centers overcome geographic, cultural, linguistic, and other barriers to care by emphasizing care management of patients with multiple health care needs, providing supportive services such as health education, translation, and transportation that promote access to health care, and using systematic quality improvement approaches, including leveraging health information technology. Health centers operate under the direction of patient-majority governing boards and are organized as public and private non-profit, tribal, and faith-based organizations. All health centers serve diverse medically underserved areas and/or populations and are required to meet (and maintain compliance with) a strict set of administrative, clinical, and financial requirements which include transparently sharing information about their patients, services, and quality of care.

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Most health centers receive Health Center Program federal grant funding to improve the health of underserved and vulnerable populations. Some health centers receive funding to focus on special populations including individuals and families experiencing homelessness, migratory and seasonal agricultural workers, and residents of public housing. The majority of health center operating funds come from Medicaid, Medicare, private insurance, and other healthcare reimbursements. Health centers provide services regardless of patients’ ability to pay and charge for services on a sliding fee scale. You can locate the health center in your community to learn more.