Community Health Center (CHC)

Medical services: Community Health Center, Inc. (chc) provides comprehensive primary medical care to patients of all ages, from newborns to geriatric patients through its primary care offices across the state of Connecticut. It provides care in traditional office settings as well as in school based Health centers, homeless shelters, and domestic violence centers. Chc's model of care is based on the principles of advanced access, planned care, and the chronic care model supported by electronic medical records and a team-based approach to care. Chc also provides prenatal care and specific specialty and support services including hiv/aids, podiatry, diabetes education, nutrition, and pharmacy consultation. (see schedule o) fy 2023 marked the start of chci's second half century. Chci wrapped up the celebrations of our 50th anniversary year as an organization founded on the principles of healthcare as a right, not a privilege and launched its second half century with continued focus on excellence in clinical care, operations, and innovation in primary care. In fy 2023, we rebounded from a slight dip in total number of patients seen during the covid pandemic and reached a new high of 107,000 unduplicated patients from nearly every city and town in Connecticut. Our primary care patients are concentrated in the cities that are home to chci's comprehensive primary care facilities--hartford, new britain, new london, groton, meriden, middletown, enfield, bristol, clinton, danbury, norwalk, stamford and waterbury. Our school-based Health centers are distributed in cities and towns across the state and serve nearly 20,000 students per year. Multiple studies have documented the increased need for behavioral Health services for young people in Connecticut, and our school-based Health centers as well as our primary care sites play a very important role in meeting those needs. The virtual care services that we first developed in response to the covid pandemic have become fundamental to our organization. Patients have settled into a "new normal" with both behavioral Health and medical patients able to use virtual care selectively as appropriate to the clinical needs and their preference. Chci has continued its focus on reaching patients in the Community through its w.y.a. (wherever you are) healthcare for the homeless program with an expansion to including mobile Health units as well as shelter-based facilities. Chci continues to be home to a 24/7 domestic violence program (new horizons) and a myriad of programs that address social need and address Health equity. Chci continued to focus on securing grant funding to support new program and won competitive awards from hrsa for programs targeting maternal Health outcomes and optimizing virtual care.health care continues to change at a rapid rate. In fy 2023, chci continued to increased participation in value-based care through new contracts with acos (affordable care organizations) and negotiated favorable new contracts with multiple private insurers. Like all of healthcare, we are keeping a close eye on the impact of ai on clinical and organizational practice. Our team of operations, data, and design experts continued to study, improve and redesign multiple operational elements of the organization from call centers to managing referrals. Chci continues its commitment to education and training of the present and future healthcare workforce by welcoming nearly 200 students of virtually every Health discipline in fy 2023 from schools and universities throughout the region for clinical rotations. In addition, chci continues to sponsor its own postgraduate nurse practitioner residency training programs in primary care and in psychiatric/mental Health specialties as well as a postdoctoral residency-training program for clinical psychologists. Both programs are fully accredited. Community Health Center, Inc. continues to benefit from its relationship with moses weitzman Health system and its weitzman institute, as well as its other affiliates (confermed, nimaa, and the consortium for advanced practice providers (capp) by accessing training and education opportunities through the institute, specialty consultations thru confermed, accreditation services through capp, and access to hiring the graduates of the nimaa program.

Mental Health services: Community Health Center, Inc. (chc) provides individual, group, and family treatment for adults and children referred primarily from its primary care department, as well as from Community sources. The chc behavioral Health team includes psychiatrists, psychiatric aprns, psychologists, lcsws, and social workers who work in an integrated model with the primary care team to assure coordinated, comprehensive care. Chc partners with multiple school systems to imbed a chc behavioralist within schools to provide early intervention and treatment of behavioral Health conditions. A member substitution with child guidance Center of southern Connecticut, Inc. Expanded these programs. (see sch. O)in order to expand access to behavioral Health care, chc expanded its operations by signing a member substitution agreement with the child guidance Center of southern Connecticut, Inc. In january 2020, chc began operating the major programs performed by cgc which included:-the provisions of cgc provides child and family therapy services.-the child first program which is an evidence-based, intensive, home-based service that identifies very young and vulnerable children from high risk families before abuse or neglect has occurred and before a child develops serious problems. -the state's designated mobile crisis intervention service ("mcis") provider for stamford, greenwich, darien and new canaan.

School based services: our school-based Health staff are licensed Health care providers, who work with school staff and nurses to provide expanded medical, behavioral Health, and dental services to students during the school day. They work in conjunction with the student's primary care providers to support their Health care needs. Chc proudly serves over 17,000 students throughout connecticut.the weitzman institute (wi) as of january 1, 2023, a program within mwhs, teamed with the school-based Health alliance for a national webinar series on leadership, experience, and telehealth strategies to support a virtual school-based Health Center model.

Dental services: the dental care team, including both dentists and dental hygienists at chc is an important part of the integrated care team. They work closely with all of the staff to ensure the patients oral Health is cared for. In addition to the main care sites, chc offers dental care at many of the school based Health centers, and have mobile dental clinics that bring care to patients across the state of Connecticut. All other programs: Community Health Center, Inc. (chc) is concerned with the interface of personal Health with population Health and Community Health as a Community Health Center. To this end it is extensively involved in conducting Community outreach, Health education, and prevention/wellness programs such as the "family resource Center and its dance/physical activity space, "vinnie's." It operates a 24/7 battered women's shelter, conducts home visitation program such as the nurturing family network, and provides extensive support services to special populations such as housing services for persons living with hiv/aids.