How does my community establish a Community Health Center?
A community interested in establishing a Community Health Center starts with a group of committed people who recognize that others in their community don’t have access to health care for any number of reasons – financial, geographic or even cultural. It may start with someone who works in health care or social services, a local service club, a religious group, elected officials or individuals who have had problems getting health care for themselves or someone they know. The point is, it usually starts as a grass roots effort. These people start a discussion that brings other stakeholders together to identify and better understand the health care access needs, issues and resources in the community.
The Wisconsin Primary Health Care Association (WPHCA) provides communities the support and technical assistance throughout the process to explore and establish a federally funded Community Health Center. Technical assistance may include steps to:
- Identify or verify health care access needs
- Identify different primary health care access models and their requirements
- Identify and connect to potential collaborators
- Support efforts to make Community Health Center grant applications
- Orient and train Health Center board members
Lauren Cnare, WPHCA’s Community Development Specialist, is available to answer questions and start your community on the road to its own Community Health Center. Please contact her at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or 608-443-2944.
Are you making plans to proceed with a Community Health Center in your community? Register your plans here by completing the simple form. WPHCA will gather your community's and other communities' activities and work with you to facilitate and assist your plans.
- Wisconsin Community Health Center Incubator Program
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This program, funded through the Wisconsin Parternship Program, is designed and run by Wisconsin Primary Health Care Association and the UW Center for Nonprofits. Its focus is to guide interested communities through the process of determining health care access needs or disparities, teach how to organize the community and a group of active leaders to explore and advocate for a Community Health Center, and write a competitive federal grant or apply for FQHC Look-Alike status.
Webinars with expert presenters will guide learners along the way. If you're serious about solving health care access issues in your area, please join for all the free Webinars. If you're just interested in the concept, feel free to pick and choose topics that interest you.
Learn more with this schedule:
2012 Incubator Program Learning Event ScheduleReview the 2012 Application:
Wis CHC Incubator Application 2011 (138.49 kB)CHC Incubator Webinar #1: CHC 101 and Community Organizing (Feb. 1, 2012) Materials CHC Incubator Webinar #1: CHCs 101 and Community Organizing (10.27 MB) - Community Health Center Basics
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Getting Started:
- Community Development Manual (203.51 kB)
- HRSA Health Center Program Requirements (HRSA)
PIN 98-23 Federal Health Center Program Expectations
Checklist summary of program requirements
All Policy Information Notices (PINs) and Program Assistance Letters (PALs) - "So, You Want to Start a Health Center" (NACHC) This 600-page tutorial will prime you for the full experience of starting a new Health Center.
- Community Health Center World Acronyms (99.52 kB)
- Governing Board Handbook (1.26 MB)
- The Fundamentals of Community Health Centers (NHFP Whitepaper)
- Specific requirements for new Community Health Centers.
The National Association of Community Health Centers has more information at its Web site: National Association of Community Health Centers
Other Safety Net Models of Care – Rural Health Clinics and Free Clinics (Wis. Dept. of Health Services Primary Care Office) Options for the Community Health Center Model: FQHC Look-Alike Information
FQHC Look-Alike PIN 2003-21 (323.18 kB) FQHC Look-Alike 2005 PIN 2005-17 (54.59 kB) FQHC Look-Alike PAL 2006-01 (78.65 kB) - Community Organizing
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Community organizing is the capacity of a community to implement programs, policies and other changes as well as seek funding for Community Health Center development and expansion. Community organizing involves convening all appropriate stakeholders with the intent of developing a Community Health Center or expanding a current community-based clinic to serve additional populations (i.e. expanding from primary care to include dental, behavioral or pharmacy services). For more information and resources on community organizing, please visit the links in the section.
If you're ready to move ahead, download the
CHC Community Organizing Checklist to guide and measure your progress through this important phase. - Organizational Development
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The foundation of a successful Community Health Center is a strong non-profit organization with a clearly defined mission, sound management, strong governance and a continuous focus on results. Most Community Health Centers start with a committed group of individuals or organizations that identify an unmet health care need in their community. They thrive and grow, or struggle and dwindle based on their ability and knowledge of how groups of people turn into high-performing organizations that can make things happen. When planning to establish a Community Health Center, its very effective to develop a pre-Health Center board that embodies as many of the tenets required by the federal grant for the board of a Community Health Center as possible.
The links and resources in this section help your board be effective, collaborative and prepare to easily move over to a high-functioning and compliant Community Health Center board.
Download the
CHC Organizational Development Checklist as a guide and yardstick of your progress. - Grant Application
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Grants and Grant Writing
Grant Writing is competitive so it only make sense to plan out your strategy to write a winning application. Download this
CHC Grant Application Checklist to plan this major project and track your success: question by question, chapter by chapter!Here are other useful linls and trainings.
- HRSA Grant Postings
- HRSA tips for writing and submitting a strong grant application
- Sign up for grant notification and register to submit an application.
- Needs Assessment Webinar (10-13-2010) (3.02 MB) Slides
- Needs Assessment Webinar Audio (10-13-2010) (14.62 MB) Audio
- August 25, 2010 Community Development Meeting
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Review all the materials from this first-ever event where people working on eliminating health care disparities gathered to learn, share and take action.
Download the agenda.
Community Development Agenda (Aug. 25, 2010) (265.67 kB)Download Power Point Presentations and written Q & A.
Community Health Center Program Overview Presentation: Tonya Bowers, MHS (375.23 kB): Tonya Bowers, MHS; BPHC, HRSA Strategic Thinking to Assess and Close Access Gaps Presentation: Pam Byrnes, PhD (1.07 MB): Pamela Byrnes, PhD; NACHC WIsconsin Health Care Landscape Presentation: Stephanie Harrison (4.08 MB): Stephanie Harrison; WPHCA Getting Ready for Grant Applications Presentation: Pam Byrnes, PhD (1016.76 kB): Pamela Byrnes, PhD; NACHC Questions & Answers (412.71 kB)Link to video-taped presentations.
- Community Health Needs Assessment Tools
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Community Health Needs Assessment Tools:
- UDS Mapper (HRSA and Graham Center) Register at this site to examine areas of unmet need by Zip Code, city, county or state.
- Wisconsin Maps of Health Care Access SItes and Needs (Wis. Dept. of Health Services Primary Care Office)
- Coming soon! Federal Grant Form 9: Need for Assistance Worksheet. This tool calculates the highest possible need score based on variable needs metrics. The Form is a requirement for the New Access Point grants just released in August 2010. WPHCA has developed a tool that already captures county-level disparity information and a link to current data sources.
- Wisconsin County Health Rankings (University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute). Examine the health determinants and health outcomes of a particular county compared to other counties in Wisconsin.
- Evidence-based Strategies to Improve the Health of the Public (University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute)
- Maps of Shortage Areas in Wisconsin (Wis. Dept. of Health Services Primary Care Office)
- Local data for Wisconsin (Division of Public Health – Health Statistics)
- Community Health Status Indicators Overview of key health status indicators by state and county (HHS)
- Needs Assessment Webinar (10-13-2010) (3.02 MB) Slides
- Needs Assessment Webinar Audio (10-13-2010) (14.62 MB) Audio - October 13, 2010
- Collaborations and Affiliations
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Collaborations and Affiliations
- Policy Information Notices on Affiliations (HRSA)
PIN 97-27: “Affiliation Agreements of Community and Migrant Health Centers”
PIN 98-24: "Amendments to PIN 92-27 Regarding filiation Agreements of Community and Migrant Health Centers“ - "The Board's Role in Evaluating Affiliation Opportunities" (NACHC 2007)
- “Using Affiliations with Residency Programs to Increase Your Health Center’s Clinical Capacity” (NACHC 2009)
- “A Manual on Effective Collaboration Between Critical Access Hospitals and Federally Qualified Health Centers” (HRSA 2010)
- “How Hospitals and Federally Qualified Health Centers Should Collaborate” (Health Leaders Media)
- “Developing Rural Federally Qualified Health Center and Critical Access Hospital Collaboration in Appalachia: a Demonstration Project” (NRHA, October 2008)
- “Enhancing the Care Continuum in Rural Areas: Survey of Community Health Center – Rural Hospital Collaborations” (NRHA, Winter 2008) (PDF)
- “Partnering Private Primary Care Practices with Federally Qualified Health Centers in the Care of Complex Patients” (Health Affairs, June 2010)
- NACHC Affiliations & Collaborations Presentation (2.06 MB) and NACHC Collaborations & Affiliations Presentation Audio (13.18 MB)
- Policy Information Notices on Affiliations (HRSA)
- Shortage Designations
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Shortage Designations:
- Overview of shortage designations, benefits and how to request a new designation from the Wisconsin Primary Care Office.
- Map of current MUAs/MUPs and Wisconsin Community Health Center sites.
- Check a street address to see if it's located within an MUA, MUP or HPSA.
- Search for MUAs and MUPs with HRSA's searchable database. Select a state, county and "show me the MUAs/MUPs."
- Provider Recruitment and Retention
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Provider Recruitment and Retention
- Wisconsin Physician Careers
- National Health Service Corps (NHSC)
National Resource
Wisconsin Resource - U.S. Dept. of Labor Online Wage Library allows searches for localized, profession-specific prevailing wage data.
- Salary Data from CareerOneStop
- Federal and state loan repayment, scholarship programs (Wisconsin Dept. of Health Primary Care Office)
- National Health Service Corps Loan Repayment Program
- Wisconsin Health Professions Loans Assistance Program (Wisconsin Office of Rural Health)
- Wisconsin J-1 Visa Waiver Program offers clinics the option to recruit foreign medical graduates to work for at least 3 years in a designated HPSA. Wisconsin can designate up to 30 J-1 visa waivers per year, starting in October. Employers submit applications to Wisconsin Dept. of Health Primary Care Office.
- National Health Service Corps Ambassador Kit: tip sheets and training aids. (HRSA)
MUA MUP HPSA Request Checklist
