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Rural health clinic
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A rural health clinic (RHC) is a clinic located in a rural, medically under-served area in the United States that has a separate reimbursement structure from the standard medical office under the Medicare and Medicaid programs. RHCs were established by the Rural Health Clinic Services Act of 1977 (P.L. 95-210), (Section 1905 of the Social Security Act). The RHC program increases access to health care in rural areas by
- creating special reimbursement mechanisms that allow clinicians to practice in rural, under-served areas
- increasing utilization of physician assistants (PA) and nurse practitioners (NP)
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As of 2018, there were approximately 4,300 RHCs across 44 states in the U.S.[1] RHCs facilitate 35.7 million visits per year and provide services for millions of people, including 8 million Medicare beneficiaries.[2]
As primary care facilities, RHCs are essential to the health care safety net in rural America.[3] Unlike FQHCs, RHCs are not legally mandated to provide care to patients who cannot pay but many of their patients are uninsured.[4] Recent evidence shows that the presence of RHCs enables greater appointment availability for Medicaid patients.[5]