As of August, Idaho Primary Care Association will be known as Idaho Community Health Center Association! To add clarity to our organizational mission and the members we serve, Idaho Primary Care Association will have a DBA of Idaho Community Health Center Association. While our name and logo are changing, our mission and members remain the same. If you have any questions, please reach out to Kyle Rooks at 208-898-3830 or krooks@idahopca.org (soon to be krooks@idahochc.org).
Below is an FAQ on our name change process.
Why change our name? As a collective, community health centers are recognized as health leaders throughout Idaho. Communities throughout Idaho recognize the network of community health centers and their mission of providing affordable and accessible healthcare to all Idahoans. However, the name Idaho Primary Care Association leads to confusion and does not fully reflect the broad scope of work health centers provide in addition to primary care, such as behavioral health, dental, pharmacy, and much more.
Common messaging misconceptions with IPCA
- We are the association for ALL primary care organizations.
- Our members only offer primary care
Changing our name to add “Community Health Center” will help enhance the message of the health centers we serve and give stakeholders a clearer understanding of who our members are.
Who are the members of the Idaho Community Health Center Association? The members of our association have always been and will continue to be the federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) of Idaho, also known as community health centers. Currently this includes 16 non-profit FQHCs serving over 230,000 patients with over 192 clinics in 62 communities. FQHCs are community-based health care providers that receive funds from the Health Resources and Services Administration to provide integrated primary care services in underserved areas. They must meet a stringent set of requirements, including providing care on a sliding fee scale based on ability to pay and operating under a governing board that includes patients, and more.
Isn’t PCA a common term for other state associations serving community health centers? Yes, however, many state PCAs have taken on DBAs that reflect the community health centers they serve. On a state level we will be known as the Idaho Community Health Center Association but for our national partners, other PCAs, and HRSA we will still be referred to as the Idaho Primary Care Association, or Idaho PCA.
What is the acronym for the new name? After the initial introduction to our new name, we encourage the use of “Health Center Association” as a shorthand way to refer to us. When the acronym is used, the correct naming convention will be to spell it out by each letter I-C-H-C-A. It won’t be said phonetically.