Community Health Centers

Community health centers are positioning for a larger role in VBC as CMS/CMMI opportunities, ACO partnerships, and CHC-led integrated behavioral health/primary care models increasingly frame FQHCs as population-health infrastructure rather than safety-net access points. The strategic tension is payment design: CHCs can reduce avoidable ED and hospital use through multidisciplinary teams, telehealth, hypertension management, and community-clinical supports, but sustaining that model requires reforms beyond visit-based reimbursement and clearer Medicare/Medicaid funding pathways for CHWs, behavioral health integration, and community partnerships (NACHC on integrated care reform; NACHC VBP opportunities table). Medicaid policy remains the near-term risk vector: work-requirement litigation and exemption rules