Codman Square Health Center, Inc

Target demographics: at-risk & under-served populations in Dorchester and the Greater Boston area

Direct beneficiaries per year: Over 22,000 patients

Geographic areas served: Dorchester and the Greater Boston area

Programs: Codman Square Health Center is a community-based, outpatient health care and multi-service center in the heart of Dorchester. We opened our doors in 1979 with a dream: to build the best urban community in America. As part of this dream, we recognized that though health care begins by alleviating sickness, the journey to a true “culture of health” is achieved through the health of the whole person and the whole community. Our two-physician staff that summer of 1979 may have been small, but our commitment to the community was deep and our vision optimistic. Today, we are home to a staff of over 300 multi-lingual and multi-cultural expert clinicians, medical staff and employees, most of whom reside in the neighborhoods surrounding Codman Square. We boast more than 115,000 client contacts each year, and have developed an astounding depth and breadth of community programs, as well as strong partnerships with other organizations in order to meet our mission most efficiently. We are the principal option for affordable, quality, primary and preventive care in one of Boston’s most vulnerable communities. In 2016 we were re-recognized as a Level 3 Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) by the NCQA, the highest level of PCMH distinction possible demonstrating our commitment to innovative and patient-focused care. We were also given the certification of PCMH PRIME, which indicates high level PCMH practices that demonstrate the integration of behavioral health into their primary care. Codman provides comprehensive services including primary care, urgent care, dental care, eye care, behavioral health, public health, fiscal health, fitness/wellness programming and youth programming. We serve over 22,000 patients each year, 87% of whom live below 200% of the Federal Poverty Level. Our achievements include developing an innovative Diabetes care model, collaborating with our in-house charter public high school, providing ‘prescriptions’ to our Healthworks Community Fitness center for women and children, and serving as an economic engine by bringing 15,000 people to the Codman Square merchant district each month. We have built a foundation of preventive and primary care services that engages consumers and embraces innovation — while never losing sight of our mission to provide access to care. Codman has been lauded by academic and health care leaders and politicians, modeled by communities around the world, and embraced by patients.