Health Care Access
Primary Care
Primary care providers are surveyed throughout the state to identify
areas of provider shortages. The data are collected and analyzed to see
if the area qualifies as a federally designated
Health Professional
Shortage Area. Data from the survey is available in summary reports.
For more information about access to Primary Care visit the
Primary Care
Office web page.
Rural Health
Clinics (RHCs) (443 KB, PDF)
Rural Health Clinics (RHCs) are federally designated medical facilities
that provide outpatient primary care services in underserved rural
areas. More information is on the
Rural Health Clinic
web page.
Federally
Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) (419 KB, PDF)
Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), also known as
Community Health Centers (CHCs), are facilities offering a variety of health
services to all patients regardless of ability to pay. A
limited
list of CHCs/FQHCs is available. To find the complete list of
CHCs/FQHCs in the state visit the
Primary Care
Office web page or go here
(external link).
Free Clinics (230 KB, PDF)
Free clinics are private, non-profit, community, or faith-based medical
facilities providing health services for little to no cost. For
additional information visit the
Washington Free Clinic Association (external link).
Tribal Health
Programs
Health facilities provide primary health care to American Indians and
Alaska Natives from federally recognized nations. There are 29 nations
in Washington State. Facilities are managed and operated by the tribal
nation or through Indian Health Service.
Rural-Urban Definitions
What is Rural?
Rural is defined in many different ways. The link below is a
Department of Health document that provides guidelines for using
rural urban classification systems for public health assessment.
Rural Urban
Classification Systems (html 117 KB)
Sub-County Level: Zip Code and Census Tract
Rural-Urban Commuting Area (RUCA) codes is the
current "state of the art" tool for classifying rural areas. The
spreadsheets contain primary and secondary RUCA codes as
well as four-level consolidation of
the codes.
County Level Rural-Urban Classification Systems
The County Level definition combines classification
systems from several state and federal agencies
to determine Rural-Urban status.
County Definitions of Rural for Washington (April 2006)
(Excel 543 KB)
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Fact Sheets, Reports and
Presentations
The links below are a collection of OCRH assessments
and inventories.
Fact Sheets
Rural Washington: Closing
Health Disparities (2010 Update) (pdf 96KB)
Reports and Presentations:
