The California Medical Association (HOD) House of Delegates approved the creation of a new Community Health Centers Mode of Practice Forum. The new delegation participated in its first meeting of the House of Delegates this weekend in Los Angeles.

California’s 1,300 community health centers provide care for more than 5 million patients every year, and are a critical piece of our state’s health care safety net. They provide comprehensive, quality health care services, particularly for low-income, uninsured and underserved Californians, who might otherwise not have access to health care.

“As a member of CMA and a board member of the California Primary Care Association, I am excited that the community health center physician perspective will have its own forum within CMA’s governance structure,” said Rakesh Patel, M.D., Chief Executive Officer of Neighborhood Healthcare. “This forum will empower community health center physicians to partner with the broader house of medicine to advocate for policies that support the health center model of care and expand access to care to our state’s most diverse communities.”

CMA’s other mode of practice forums include the Solo and Small-Group Practice Forum, the Medium Group Practice Forum, the Large Group Practice Forum, the Very Large Group Practice Forum, the Academic Practice Forum, the Administrative Medicine Forum, the Government Employed Physicians Forum and the Hospital-Based Physicians Forum. Membership in these forums is determined by each member’s self-selected mode of practice.

Delegates for each forum represent their modes of practice by attending and actively participating in delegation caucus meetings and in the annual CMA House of Delegates.