Community Health Centers In the USA

In the USA, Community Health Centers (CHCs) play a critical role in providing accessible healthcare to underserved populations. As healthcare providers continue to evolve, ensuring optimal site selection for Community Health Centers has become essential to meet the needs of the communities they serve. Businesses, urban planners, and healthcare providers seeking to establish new CHCs or expand their networks face challenges related to selecting the right location.

In this article, we’ll explore the current population of Community Health Centers across the USA, their distribution by state, ratings, traffic data, and reviews. More importantly, we’ll showcase how Polygon AI, a powerful generative AI tool, helps businesses assess site suitability and avoid the costly mistakes of poor location selection.

The population of Community Health Centers in the USA

As of 2024, there are approximately 3,843 Community Health Centers across the USA, serving millions of patients annually. CHCs are often found in rural and underserved urban areas, where they provide essential services, including primary care, dental care, and mental health services. Given their focus on serving low-income and uninsured populations, the availability and accessibility of CHCs are vital for equitable healthcare delivery.

However, determining the best location to open a new CHC or expand an existing network is no simple task but with generative AI tools like Polygon AI, healthcare organizations can quickly determine the population of healthcare facilities operating in a particular region to develop data-driven strategies by asking questions like:

• How many healthcare centers are within a 1 km radius of this area?
• What’s the population density of this area?
• What opportunities exist for expanding healthcare establishments in this area?

The ability to visualize and analyze these data points allows for more informed decision-making, minimizing the risk of opening CHCs in over-served or under-demand areas.

Distribution of Community Health Centers in the USA States

Community Health Centers are vastly distributed across the United States. States like California, Texas, Washington, Louisiana, Oregon, and Missouri lead the nation in the number of CHCs due to their large populations and high demand for healthcare services. States, such as Alaska, Rhode Island, the District of Columbia, and Connecticut, have the lowest population of community health centers, which can result in healthcare access gaps for their residents.

California has over 843 community health centers in the USA, making it the state with the highest number of community health centers followed by Texas with 340 community health centers and Washington with 214.

Louisiana, Oregon, Missouri, Arizona, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Colorado, and Illinois have around 100-200 community health centers.

Ratings of Community Health Centers in the USA

The quality of care provided by community health centers varies across the country. Some centers consistently receive high ratings due to excellent patient care, modern facilities, and efficient services, while others may struggle with staffing shortages, outdated facilities, or poor patient satisfaction. Clinic ratings can be an essential factor in determining where to establish a new CHC or improve existing ones.

There are over 306 5-star rated community health centers in the USA. Most of these 5-star rated are in California, Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Oregon.

With the help of Polygon AI and xMap’s USA healthcare dataset, businesses can quickly assess the rating trends in any given area by asking Polygon AI questions like:

• What is the average rating of hospitals within a 5 km radius of this property?
• Are highly-rated clinics concentrated in this area?
• Which areas are underserved in terms of high-quality healthcare services?

By identifying high-performing regions and understanding what contributes to patient satisfaction, businesses can replicate successful models in new locations. Conversely, understanding areas where CHCs underperform can highlight opportunities for improvement or gaps in the healthcare market.

Services Provided by Healthcare Establishments in the USA

In addition to CHCs, other healthcare establishments, such as urgent care centers, dental clinics, and specialized clinics, also play a role in providing healthcare. Understanding the healthcare landscape around potential CHC sites is crucial for ensuring that the new facility meets the community’s needs without duplicating services already offered.

With the USA healthcare dataset and generative AI, businesses can explore the presence of other healthcare providers in any region by asking questions like:

• What healthcare services are available within 1 km of this area?
• How many healthcare establishments are within 5 km of this property?

We’ve established that there are over 3,843 Community Health Centers across the USA, in addition to this there are over 1,304 dental clinics, 6,130 ****urgent care centers, 584 surgical hospitals, 470 children's hospitals, and approximately 58 women’s hospitals recognized across the USA.

This detailed analysis helps avoid costly site selection errors by ensuring that CHCs are placed where they can have the most significant impact, complementing existing healthcare services rather than competing with them.

Traffic Data of Community Health Centers in the USA

Understanding the traffic patterns around a potential site is critical for ensuring accessibility and visibility. Community Health Centers must be conveniently located for the populations they serve, whether through public transport routes, pedestrian access, or proximity to main roads. High-traffic areas can increase patient volume, while poor accessibility can result in underutilized services.

From our USA dataset, 819 community health centers are highly visited, 4 community health centers are known to have average visitations, and 668 have above-average visitations from patients. So most of the community health centers are highly visited.

Polygon AI offers detailed traffic data, enabling businesses to make data-driven decisions. These real-time insights can be gathered by asking our generative AI questions like:

• What are the daily and weekly traffic patterns of this area?
• What is the foot traffic pattern of hospitals within 5 km from this property?
• What are the peak traffic hours around this location?
• What is the average traffic score of hospitals in this area?

By leveraging traffic data, businesses can ensure that their CHCs are placed in convenient, high-traffic areas, making it easier for patients to access essential healthcare services.

Reviews of Community Health Centers in the USA

Patient reviews are a goldmine of insights into the performance of existing CHCs. Positive reviews often indicate effective care delivery, friendly staff, and modern facilities, while negative reviews may highlight areas for improvement, such as long wait times or poor patient experiences. Before selecting a site for a new CHC, analyzing patient reviews in the surrounding area can provide a better understanding of local healthcare dynamics.

There are over 12 community healthcare centers in the USA with over 1,000 reviews and they are located in California, Texas, Florida, Nebraska, Massachusetts, and Arizona. In contrast to this, there are over 9 dental clinics in the USA with over 2,000 reviews which indicates higher patient feedback.

Using xMap’s USA healthcare dataset and Polygon AI, businesses can access and analyze patient reviews across different regions, helping them answer questions like:

• What are the most common themes in patient reviews of community health centers?
• How can a new hospital differentiate itself based on patient feedback?
• Are there specific service gaps highlighted in reviews that a new hospital could address?

This data helps healthcare organizations and businesses identify regions with unmet healthcare needs and avoid areas where poor service quality could negatively affect patient retention.

Conclusion

Choosing the right location for a Community Health Center is a complex decision that requires careful analysis of population demographics, healthcare needs, competition, and accessibility. With tools like Polygon AI from xMap, businesses and healthcare providers can rely on data-driven insights to select optimal sites for new CHCs, minimizing risk and maximizing impact.

Leveraging Generative AI for Evaluating Community Health Centers Sites

If you're looking to expand your healthcare services or establish new community health centers and health facilities in the United States and other countries of interest, our data catalog is built to cater to your business needs and help you make data-driven decisions. By leveraging these insights, businesses can avoid the common pitfalls of poor site selection, ensuring that their CHCs serve the communities that need them the most.

Contact xMap sales to explore how our comprehensive datasets and AI-powered tools can revolutionize your site selection process.

For more information contact sales@xmap.ai