Bureau of Primary Health Care - History

History

HRSA’s Primary Health Care Programs have their roots in the Migrant Health Act of 1962 and the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, which established funding for the first community-based clinics that were to become today’s Health Center Program. The National Hansen’s Disease Program, formerly the National Leprosarium, was established in 1921. More recently, the Free Clinics Medical Malpractice Program was established in 2004.

The Bureau of Primary Health Care was reorganized and restructured to become more organized and efficient. This resulted in creation of the Office of Minority and Special Populations, the Office of Policy and Program Development, and the Office of Quality and Data. There are also four divisions that were created: Eastern, Central Mid Atlantic, Western and the National Hansen’s disease program.

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), has the responsibility for managing the Consolidated Health Centers Grant Program. The Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 provided Federal funds for two "neighborhood health centers," which were launched in 1965 by Jack Geiger and Count Gibson, physicians at Tufts University in Boston. Federal support for entities that would later be called health centers began in 1962 with passage of the Migrant Health Act, which funded medical and support services for migrant and seasonal farmworkers and their family members. In the mid-1970s, Congress permanently authorized neighborhood health centers as “community health centers” and “migrant health centers” under sections 329 and 330 of the Public Health Service Act.