Providing Enabling Services at Health Centers and Evaluating Their Role in Improving Access to Care and Health Outcomes

Health center patients often face complex, interrelated barriers to care that require a mix of non-clinical services to help increase healthcare access. These non-clinical, enabling services include outreach, enrollment assistance, case management, interpretation, transportation, health education, peer support, and other services. By enhancing access to primary care, enabling services have implications for optimizing health and cost savings in the long term.   This session will showcase various models for providing enabling services at community health centers. Presenters will highlight peer-reviewed research examining how enabling services influence health center patients’ access to primary care, preventive services use, and satisfaction with care received. This includes research led in part by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) in addition to program evaluations conducted by a community health center.