Zepf Center Primary Care is celebrating National Health Center Week 2025, August 3 through 9. The annual event highlights the essential role Community Health Centers (CHCs) play in improving public health and providing Americans equal opportunity to access critical healthcare services. CHCs represent the nation’s largest primary care network, serving 32.5 million patients nationwide.
With a mission to make high-quality, affordable care available to everyone, regardless of their ability to pay or insurance status, CHCs save lives and healthcare costs on the front lines of our nation’s most pressing public health challenges. In our local community alone, Zepf Center’s Primary Care team has diagnosed more than 100 individuals with Hepatitis C and cured 95 percent of cases for those who begin treatment. Left untreated, this virus can carry on for years without presenting symptoms, while causing serious harm to the affected person.
Though they are vital to the communities they serve, CHCs are racing against a September deadline as federal funding expires, creating unprecedented financial strain. The recently enacted “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” is projected to cost CHCs $7 billion annually in higher uncompensated care costs and jeopardize coverage for four million patients.
While CHCs never turn clients away, anticipated Medicaid coverage reductions will force impossible budget choices. The National Association of Community Health Centers projects these combined pressures could lead to workforce cuts and site closures, resulting in up to 6,000 preventable CHC client deaths annually.
Zepf Center’s CHC team provides:
•Services for 2,229 adult psychiatric clients
•Care for 1,321 primary care clients
•Hepatitis C diagnosis and treatment with 95 percent cure rates for those who begin treatment regimens
•Accessible, trauma-informed medical care for the whole family
•Coordination with specialists, case management, mental health services and all services with Zepf Center’s continuum of care CHCs serve 10 percent of the U.S. population but represent roughly only one percent of total annual healthcare spending nationwide.
To learn more about Zepf Center Primary Care services, visit zepfcenter.org/primarycare- your-health-matters/.
