Health centers provide care to patients in a service area. We approve the service area when reviewing a health center’s application for funds. We use the Service Area Needs Assessment Methodology (SANAM) to calculate an Unmet Need Score (UNS) for every ZIP Code. Higher scores typically indicate a greater need for health center services.
What services people still need
Health centers provide many different services. We use the Uniform Data System (UDS) to count how many patients receive each service.
How we use this data
To understand the level of unmet need, we developed national benchmarks. These help us understand where patients still need help.
We reviewed literature and data analyses from these sources:
- Key Resources and Tools for NSDUH | CBHSQ Data
- Medical Expenditure Panel Survey
- Health Center Patient Survey
- National Health Interview Survey
- UDS
| Service category | Estimate of health center patients who could use this service | Health center patients currently using this service | Estimated percent of health center patients’ need being met |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mental Health | 10.3 million | 2.8 million | 27% |
| Substance Use Disorder | 5.3 million | 294,000 | 6% |
| Oral Health | 18.5 million | 6.4 million | 35% |
| Vision | 11.6 million | 921,000 | 8% |
| Enabling | 8.4 million | 2.8 million | 33% |
Note: The percentage for the 31.2 million health center patients who could use the specific service are: 33% for mental health services, 17% for substance use disorder services, 59% for oral health services, 37% for vision services, and 27% for enabling (interpretationing and translating) services.
How you can reach us
- Use the BPHC Contact Form.
Under Health Center Program, select Health Center Program (for example, Unmet Need Score, Health Center Performance Improvement Framework). - Call 877-464-4772 (select option 1), 8 a.m. – 8 p.m. ET, Monday – Friday (except federal holidays)