Keeping Community Health Centers Strong During the Coronavirus Pandemic is Essential to Public Health

The COVID-19 stimulus legislation includes some financial relief for community health centers, including small business protections in which most health centers with less than 500 workers will be eligible to borrow up to $10 million to cover payroll expenses, rent, and overhead costs. However, our analysis shows 93 health centers which serve 8 million of 29 million health center patients (28%) nationwide are likely ineligible for this benefit.  The analysis can be accessed here.Table 1. Large Community Health Centers with More than 500 Employees, 2018StateNumber Centers 500 EmployeesPercent of Total State CentersNumber of Staff at Centers 500 EmployeesPercent of State’s Staff Total Number of Patients Served at Centers 500 Employees Percent of State’s Patients ServedAK13.7%62725.2%10,1029.0%AR18.3%62031.8%65,28329.3%AZ315.0%2,57243.7%246,87240.1%CA2614.7%24,82050.6%2,451,09249.2%CO525.0%3,78862.3%417,75564.9%CT212.5%1,40035.5%130,81533.2%DC112.5%94847.0%100,71752.0%FL48.5%2,54723.6%325,80021.5%HI17.1%63730.1%38,14124.3%IL36.8%2,16023.2%356,43626.2%IN14.0%59015.2%59,92926.5%KY14.2%52214.5%87,95217.9%MA512.8%3,21332.1%235,20529.7%ME15.6%72237.2%65,11033.8%MI12.6%70211.5%65,9259.4%NC12.5%51111.0%47,2268.3%NJ14.3%50714.4%71,90413.1%NM15.9%87424.5%79,94523.7%NY1219.4%12,70659.4%1,302,85957.2%OH24.3%1,31920.4%62,2168.2%OK15.0%52527.8%62,07226.0%OR26.7%1,35324.9%111,56328.4%PA24.7%1,15119.5%188,11523.0%PR15.0%55013.7%54,23113.8%RI112.5%50528.9%48,58627.3%TN13.4%61519.5%69,54516.5%TX45.6%3,02824.9%374,62325.3%WA622.2%6,16456.4%672,86458.4%WI15.9%2,43655.2%82,72327.6%WV13.7%51413.6%71,96915.6%