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Contact: Alexandra Walker 718-938-2820
MINNEAPOLIS, MN — Amid growing financial pressure and rapid change across the health care landscape, the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) has convened a brain trust of 300 primary care leaders to discuss bold strategies to turbocharge America’s health system by strengthening and expanding the nation’s largest primary care provider: Community Health Centers (CHCs).
The 2025 NACHC Partner Conference and Strategy Meeting gathers state/regional Primary Care Associations (PCAs), Health Center Controlled Networks (HCCNs), and National Technical Assistance Partners (NTAPs) to address emerging issues in community health and develop collaborative solutions. The event advances NACHC’s goal of positioning CHCs as the employers, providers, and partners of choice for the up to 1 in 7 patients they serve, the 330,000-strong workforce they employ, and the communities they impact through more than 17,000 locations.
This year NACHC has invited the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), led by Executive Vice President and CEO, Shawn Martin, to promote closer collaboration between the state AAFP chapters and the PCAs around promising care models and advocacy. Anchoring the conversation about how to expand CHC patients served and address the crises in primary care access and chronic disease rates is Dr. Asaf Bitton, executive director of Ariadne Labs. Dr. Bitton is joining the Strategy Meeting to rally attendees in support of the “Triple Double,” which sets audacious but achievable goals to transform American primary care by 2030:
- Double Primary Care spend (from ~5% to 10%)
- Double the number of people cared for at CHCs annually (from ~10% to 20%)
- Double the percentage of new physicians entering primary care (from ~20%-40%)
The Triple Double goals are undergirded by data analysis provided by the Robert Graham Center, Milbank Memorial Fund, and the NACHC Dr. John W. Hatch Center for Science.
“Primary care is literally a matter of life and death, yet we’re systematically underinvesting in the foundation of our health care system,” said Kyu Rhee, MD, MPP, President and CEO of NACHC. “For six decades, Community Health Centers have proven they can save lives while reducing overall health care costs. With adequate resources, CHCs are positioned to grow and confront the nation’s dual challenges of limited primary care access and rising chronic disease. This week’s gathering brings together leading experts and practitioners to boldly envision what the health center movement can accomplish over the next 60 years.”
This year’s Strategy Meeting will continue advancing NACHC’s strategic framework through discussion and strategic co-design around three focus areas:
- Policy (to include funding, Medicaid eligibility requirements, 340B)
- Practice enablement (to include value-based care, data, health IT, AI)
- Partner opportunities (to include innovation, TechQuity, and opportunities to leverage the CHC movement’s collective buying power)
A highlight for attendees is a special screening of “Doc Albany,” a documentary directed by two-time Academy Award winner Ben Proudfoot, that tells a story of hope, innovation, and possibility for rural health care. The film focuses on two of the inspiring physicians at Albany Area Primary Health Care in Georgia, one of the many CHCs that collectively provide care to up to 1 in 3 rural Americans.
NACHC and partners are united in our view that CHCs offer an impactful model for excellence in access and health care for all.