Family HealthCare Network is a private, non-profit community-based organization established in 1976. The organization is governed by a volunteer Board of Directors and has developed a comprehensive primary health care delivery system with center sites located in Porterville, Visalia, Ivanhoe, Woodlake, Springville, Three Rivers, Goshen, Hanford and Cutler–Orosi.
The Board of Directors, composed of patients and community representatives, sets all policy for the organization. The responsibility for the implementation of these policies and the day-to-day operations has been delegated to a professional staff. The area and population we serve also determines the composition of the Board of Directors. We have evolved over the years to the point that today our service area is co-terminus with Tulare and Kings Counties; therefore we have Board representation from various cities within these counties. We are licensed by the State of California as a community clinic. In 1989, the Federal and State governments designated us as a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC). In 1997, we became the first freestanding ambulatory care center in Tulare County to be accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of HealthCare Organizations.
We continue to provide a full array of services that is required of a Federally Qualified Health Center. We provide Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Dermatology Telemedicine, Pediatrics, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Family Planning, Dentistry, Clinical Laboratory, Radiology, Mammography, Ultrasound, Integrated Complementary Alternative Medicine, Pharmacy, Health Education and Promotion, Translation, Integrated Behavioral Health, Nutrition Counseling, Digital Retinal Screening, Community Outreach and Transportation services.
We retain medical staff privileges at various hospitals throughout the service area. Patients are offered a variety of payment options including commercial insurance, MediCare, Medi-Cal, CHAMPUS, Workers Compensation, and Cash Payment on a sliding fee scale according to family size and income. In the commercial insurance market, we provide both fee for service and capitated services through contracts with over fifty insurance companies and health plans.
We currently have over 102,000 patients enrolled with us throughout our service area. We will provide more than 493,000 outpatient visits this year, and twenty-two thousand six hundred inpatient hospital visits.
Services are provided by a team of highly qualified professionals working together in multi-disciplinary teams, including board certified physicians, certified nurse midwives, certified physician assistants, nurse practitioners, licensed clinical social workers and health educators, support staff and administrative staff. The organization utilizes various quality assurance processes and tools and was recognized particularly by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of HealthCare Organizations for our performance improvement programs.
Patients can receive care at one of our centers 74 hours per week during center hours or through our provider call system that provides 24-hour care, 365 days per year. Utilization coordinators work closely with health care providers to ensure that patients are receiving appropriate care. The practice is multi-cultural with 74 percent of our patients identifying themselves as Hispanic and another 2 percent identifying themselves as Southeast Asian. Patients can receive their care by Spanish, Southeast Asian and English speaking providers. The vast majority of the staff members at Family HealthCare Network are bilingual.
Above all else the organization and its staff are committed to the principle of service and we recognize the most important people we serve are our patients.