Who We Are
The Tennessee Primary Care Association is a membership organization of 30 non-profit primary care clinic organizations operating more than 200 clinic sites that provide high-quality, comprehensive care to individuals and families throughout the state. Our members served 426,000 Tennesseans in 2022.
Community health centers are private, non-profit, consumer-directed health care organizations that provide high-quality, cost-effective and comprehensive primary and preventive care to medically underserved and uninsured. Community health centers are commonly referred to as Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) because they meet rigorous federal standards related to quality of care, services, and cost, and they are qualified to receive cost-based reimbursement under Medicaid and Medicare.
- 100% of TPCA members provide medical and enabling services
- 90% provide behavioral health services
- 80% provide dental services
- Nearly 80% of Tennessee health centers received 2023 HRSA Community Health Quality Recognition (CHQR) Badges.
History
TPCA evolved as part of the national community health center movement that began in the 1960s as part of President Lyndon Johnson’s “War on Poverty.” The Association was formed in 1976 in response to a legislative issue over prescribing that arose between rural health centers -- staffed by nurse practitioners or physician assistants, and the Board of Pharmacy. The conflict with the Board of Pharmacy underscored the need for health centers to coalesce into a unified, statewide organization to represent their interests in access to care for underserved communities.
Memories from the Founders
As I traveled across the state, talking with rural and urban center leaders, it became increasingly clear that we shared the same challenges. If the centers were to survive, state and local elected officials had to rebuff established political interests and change regulatory laws, reimbursement rules, Medicaid and private insurance coverage and public health departments programs and practices to accommodate us. The task appeared to be, and was, daunting, unless we organized ourselves and forced the regulatory agencies and politicians to acknowledge that we were the only sources of health care for thousands of people. William “Bill” Corr
Timeline
1977 First Annual Conference, by-laws passed, first board of directors elected
1978 Began seeking tax exempt status as a 501 (c) 3
1979 Received first Technical Assistance (TA) Grant from the Lyndhurst Foundation
1982 Initiated a pilot program for Medicaid managed care with funding from the
Robert Wood-Johnson, Lyndhurst, and Commonwealth foundations
1983 The Tennessee Primary Care Network began with 2 centers participating
1984 First federal Bureau of Primary Health Care (BPHC) Grant received
1994 TennCare began
2001 Achieved a long-standing goal of securing cost-based reimbursement for FQHCs
through the implementation of the Prospective Payment System
2002 Organized Community Health Network (CHN)
2013 Purchased Association’s second building in Nashville
Mission
The Tennessee Primary Care Association improves access to primary health care through leadership, advocacy, and support, as the voice of community health centers.
TPCA’s mission to strengthen community health systems in Tennessee has been a bold one—building
systems of care in those communities that have had the greatest challenge in attracting and keeping
health care providers. Even bolder is the commitment to build a sustainable, quality health care system
that welcomes patients who do not have insurance or adequate financial resources. In a model of public private partnership, community health centers have provided valuable jobs for their communities and are often economic anchors in their neighborhoods.
What We Do
The Tennessee Primary Care Association is the vehicle through which health centers and providers of health care to the medically underserved have related to one another. The Association is a gathering place to identify and solve problems that these health centers have confronted. TPCA provides information on state and federal resources, as well as training, technical assistance, advocacy, and a forum for collaboration. The Association has a broad program with attention to health center finance, administration, and clinical issues.
