Profile: Nevada Health Centers, Inc.

Who is Nevada Health Centers, Inc.?

Nevada Health Centers Inc. (NVHC), a private, not-for-profit 501(c)(3) corporation, is a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) CHC program that is funded under Section 330 of the Public Health Service Act, as described above. This federal funding is provided for both its Community Health Center (CHC) program and its Health Care for the Homeless (HCH) program in Las Vegas.

For the first 18 years of its existence, NVHC was a public entity, a consortium of counties known as Central Nevada Rural Health Consortium, originally incorporated in late 1976. It became one of the first federally funded CHCs in 1977, as authorized under the Public Health Service Act of 1976. In 1994, the organization's name was changed to Nevada Rural Health Centers, Inc., and it became a private, not-for-profit corporation. In 2001, the organization's name was changed to Nevada Health Centers, Inc. to better represent the organization's mission.

How is NVHC governed?

NVHC is federally governed and directed by a policy making Board of Directors. The members consist of representatives from each community served, and includes a broad cross section of professional, industrial, and residential interests and activities in the region, and fairly represents a mix of sex, age and ethnic distribution.  The Board must also have a majority of members who are actual users of the services provided.

The Governing Board of NVHC presently consists of 14 volunteer members, a majority of whom are users of the clinics.  They represent the communities or regions where clinics are located or serve "at large" from around the state, bringing other professional skills to the Board.

How is NVHC funded? NVHC depends on a balanced distribution of funding sources.  Currently NVHC’s revenue comes from four main sources which include 49% patient charges, 34% federal grants, 9% local/county contributions, 5% private contributions and donations and 3% other.

Who do we care for? NVHC provides care to approximately 35,000 patients, which relates to 70,000 patient visits per year. The demographic breakdown of our patient population is 30% Hispanic, 53% White, 6% African American, 3% Asian, Native American 1%, and 7% undeclared.  In addition, approximately 40% of our patients are under 100% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL), and 31% are between 100% and 200% of the FPL.

Where are our clinics and what services are provided?

Nevada Health Centers is making health care services available to people all over Nevada, with health clinics strategically located in many rural and frontier regions and in the urban areas of Las Vegas. NVHC is currently operating fourteen (15) clinics, staffed by physicians, physician assistants and nurse practitioners. Our clinics provide primary health care in the following locations: Amargosa Valley, Austin, Beatty, Carlin, Crescent Valley, Eureka, Jackpot, Carson City, West Wendover and in the Las Vegas area, the Cambridge Family Health Center, North Las Vegas Family Health Center, Eastern Family Medical and Dental Center, Martin Luther King Family Health Center, and the Las Vegas Outreach Clinic. NVHC also provides health-screening services via our mobile mammography van, Nevada Health Centers Mammovan, which consist of mammograms, breast exams, and pap smears and Miles For Smiles Dental Bus. We also operate a centralized pharmacy that provides 9 of our frontier clinics and the two Health Care for the Homeless clinics with dispensaries.