Zufall Health has been providing high-quality, affordable medical treatment to New Jersey’s working poor, uninsured, and underserved populations since 1990. Founded as the Dover Community Clinic by Dr. Robert Zufall and his wife, Kathryn, it was a tiny volunteer effort, operating just one night a week out of a modest room within the Morris County Organization of Hispanic Affairs. Today, Zufall Health is a seven-day-a-week, independent, not-for-profit, state-licensed, and federally recognized network of community health centers, and has extended its reach into numerous communities throughout seven northern and central New Jersey counties.
Comprehensive services include adult and pediatric medicine, dental care, women’s health, cancer screening, podiatry, HIV care, neurology, optometry, and behavioral health, nutrition, and clinical pharmacy counseling. They are delivered by a caring, bilingual staff of board-certified physicians and dentists (paid and volunteer), social workers, pharmacists, and support professionals in-person and via telemedicine. Zufall Health also offers supportive enabling services including eligibility assistance, case management, transportation, health literacy training, outreach, and translation. Funding for its activities is provided by government and other grants, revenues from patient services, and private donations. Revenue from the federal government represents approximately 15 percent of its annual operating budget of $59 million.
Zufall Health’s over 48,000 medical and dental patients are among the most disadvantaged in the state. Currently, 53 percent are uninsured, with most of the remaining on Medicaid, NJ Family Care, or Medicare. Eighty percent have incomes below 200 percent of the federal poverty level, 79 percent of patients identify as Hispanic or Black, and 69 percent are best served in a language other than English. In 2023, Zufall Health served patients at its sites in Bridgewater, Dover, Flemington, Franklin Township, Hackettstown, Morristown, Newton, Plainsboro, Somerville, and West Orange, and on its Highlands Health Van and Zufall Health Delta Dental Mobile in over 178,000 visits. Zufall also operates a pharmacy in Dover.
Recognized as a national quality leader, the health center and several staff members have been cited for outstanding achievements. Zufall Health annually ranks in the top ten percent of FQHCs nationwide according to data from the Health Resource and Services Administration (HRSA) within the Department for Health and Human Services. Zufall Health’s successful hypertension control initiative received Target: BP Gold Recognition from the American Heart Association and the American Medical Association. Also, the Healthcare Institute of New Jersey honored Zufall Health for its accomplishments addressing patient access and advocacy. Other significant activities in 2023 include partnering with the state of New Jersey to serve the refugee population, expanding our early childhood screening services through a grant from HRSA, developing a dental assistant training program, and opening new sites in Bridgewater and West Orange.
