At Family Health Centers, we believe that nothing should prevent you from getting the care you need, when you need it. Everyone is welcome here.
The mission of the Family Health Centers, Inc. is to provide access to high quality primary and preventive care services without regard to the ability to pay.
At Family Health Centers, Inc. we will provide you and your family with the same care and attention we want for our families and ourselves.
Family Health Centers is a primary care provider with additional health services to support your health and wellness. We provide evidenced-based care for people of all ages. Our model of care is centered on the patient-provider relationship. FHC is certified as a Patient Center Medical Home (PCMH) by the National Center for Quality Assurance.
As a PCMH, FHC works to ensure that:
Family Health Centers, Inc. (FHC) is a not-for-profit community health center that cares for the health and wellness of our community by providing primary and preventative health care services at seven clinical locations. FHC is designated as a Federally Qualified Health Center, where the Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA) provides federal grant support to help offset costs of providing services on a sliding-fee scale.
Family Health Centers provides services on a sliding-fee-scale to help make care affordable, and offers supportive services to address other barriers to health care. These support services include language interpreter services, case management, help with transportation, and help signing up for insurance.
Family Health Centers operates its main clinical and administrative site in the Portland neighborhood of Louisville, and six satellite health centers in medically underserved areas of the city and county. Two of these health center sites serve special populations with unique and often complex health and social needs. The Family Health Centers – Phoenix is a federal Health Care for the Homeless grantee, providing a variety of clinical, psychiatric, and social services to the region’s homeless. The Family Health Centers – Americana houses an Immigrant & Refugee Health Program and serves a culturally diverse population of immigrants and refugees.
Media Download: Family Health Centers Overview 2022
Family Health Centers is governed by a majority patient Board of Governors, who represent the neighborhoods and populations that we serve. Having patients lead Family Health Centers ensures that we have direct input and guidance from the very people that we serve.
Family Health Centers provides care to more than 40,000 children and adults each year. The majority of our patients have trouble accessing the traditional health care system either because they are poor, are uninsured, or face other barriers to care such as lack of transportation. Our patients are racially and ethnically diverse and many are best served in a language other than English. For many of our patients, seeing their provider alone is not enough to improve their health. Our patient’s health is often complicated and interwoven with issues that come with living in poverty and in underserved communities.
Family Health Centers sites and laboratories are accredited by the Joint Commission and FHC is designated as a Patient Centered Medical Home through the National Committee for Quality Assurance. FHC’s quality of care is rigorously monitored by our clinical teams and HRSA. Ongoing outreach to our patient by our Population Health team helps to ensure our patients are getting timely preventative care. Each year FHC reports patient, clinical and cost quality data to the HRSA as part of the Uniform Data System (UDS) reporting required for Federally Qualified Health Centers. HRSA uses this data to ensure quality of care by FQHCs and awards top organizations with Community Health Center Quality Recognition Awards
FHCs 2023 Community Health Center Quality Recognition Awards:
In 1976, Family Health Centers, Inc. was established by the Louisville-Jefferson County Board of Health to improve access to high quality primary and preventive health services for residents of the Louisville Metro area. The health center opened as the Louisville Memorial Primary Care Center and the Board of Health created a freestanding Board of Governors to operate the new health center. In 1985, the organization changed its name to “Family Health Centers” and a few years later the organization was incorporated as a non-profit organization.
In 1979, Family Health Centers received its first federal grant under Section 330 of the Public Health Service Act which established the organization as a federally qualified health center. This grant helps support the Family Health Centers mission, by providing funds to help cover the cost of care for those without health insurance or those unable to pay.
Family Health Centers has grown over the years to add six additional sites; East Broadway (1981), Fairdale (1985), Iroquois & Phoenix (1988), Americana (2007), and West Market (2017). The Family Health Centers – Phoenix is a federal Health Care for the Homeless grantee, providing a variety of clinical, psychiatric, and social services to the region’s homeless. The Family Health Centers – Americana houses a Refugee Health Program and serves a culturally diverse population of immigrants and refugees.
The Family Health Centers – Portland site is located on the campus of the original U.S. Marine Service Hospital, which opened in 1852 to serve merchant seamen while their boats were passing through the Portland Canal on the Ohio River. The U.S. Marine Hospital was a prototype hospital for the seven U.S. Marine Hospitals authorized by Congress at that time, designed by Robert Mills, the architect of the Washington monument. Built during the golden days of steam boating when Louisville was an important commercial shipping port, the hospital converted temporarily to treat Union Soldiers wounded at Shiloh, Perryville and other major battles of the Civil War. The hospital resumed its original mission to treat merchant seamen. The hospital remained in operation until the construction of the new hospital facility was completed in 1933. The original hospital building, now called Marine Hall, is presently vacant and stands behind to the newer building. The Marine Hall hospital received National Historical Landmark designation in 1997, National Trust for Historic Preservation Most Endangered List and Save America’s Treasures status by the National Park Service in 2003.
The 1933 Marine Service Hospital was one of 27 U.S. Public Health Service Hospitals dedicated to the treatment of men serving in the Merchant Marine Corps. In 1947 the hospital closed and the building was transferred to the Public Buildings Administration as surplus. The City of Louisville purchased the building and renovated, reopening the hospital in 1953 as the Louisville Memorial Hospital to care for individuals with chronic illnesses.
In 1975, the ownership of the hospital was given to the Louisville-Jefferson County Board of Health. In 1976, the last patient was discharged from the Louisville Memorial Hospital and in the same year, the Board of Health established the Louisville Memorial Primary Care Center. The Louisville Memorial Primary Care Center later changed its name to Family Health Centers, and this site is now known as Family Health Centers – Portland site, and is the main clinical and administrative site for the organization.
To learn more about the U.S. Marine Hospital and efforts to restore this historical Louisville site, visit the U.S. Marine Hospital Foundation.