Many offer evening and weekend hours for working families, provide care at multiple sites, use mobile clinics to reach rural and other hard-to-reach populations, and employ multi-lingual staffs. Health Center services generally include primary care visits, health education, disease screening and control, case management, laboratory services, dental care, pharmacy services, substance abuse counseling, and social services. These community-based providers are also commonly referred to as Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) because they meet rigorous federal standards related to quality of care and services as well as cost, and they are qualified to receive cost-based reimbursement under Medicaid and Medicare law. What Are Community Health Centers?Īmerica’s Health Centers are private, not-for-profit, consumer-directed health care corporations which provide high quality, cost-effective, and comprehensive primary and preventive care to medically underserved and uninsured people. This health center receives HHS funding and has Federal Public Health Service (PHS) deemed status with respect to certain health or health-related claims, including medical malpractice claims, for itself and its covered individuals. Under the Act, health centers are considered Federal employees and are immune from lawsuits, with the Federal government acting as their primary insurer. The Federally Supported Health Centers Assistance Act of 19 granted medical malpractice liability protection through the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) to HRSA-supported health centers. in Willow and at the crossroads of Bogard Rd. Today SCHC has three locations to serve patients at mile 4.4 on the Talkeetna Spur Rd., 1 mile down Long Lake Rd. Its service area stretches nearly 160 miles along both sides of Alaska’s George Parks Highway, from Willow north to Denali National Park, and into the bush communities west of the highway. SCHC was originally located in the “Sunshine Community” area, a crossroads centered among the communities of Talkeetna, Willow and Trapper Creek. Sunshine Community Health Center (SCHC) was founded in 1986 through a grassroots effort to bring the first basic health care option to this impoverished rural region. Sunshine is committed to providing quality, comprehensive health care services with special consideration for medically under-served populations.
It has three primary health care delivery sites strategically located in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough in Talkeetna, Willow and Wasilla. Sunshine Community Health Center, Inc., a federally qualified community health center, is a private non-profit corporation governed by a volunteer community board.