About Us

Michigan Primary Care Association got its beginnings in 1978 as the Michigan Association of Rural Health Care (MARHC), a networking organization of Health Centers and stakeholders interested in fostering primary care in rural underserved communities across the state. With the realization that urban communities also had great health care needs, the association broadened its scope to include urban Michigan communities as well. To better reflect this broadened scope, MARHC changed its name to Michigan Primary Care Association (MPCA), which incorporated in 1981. The members of MPCA recognized the benefit of a statewide advocacy organization as Health Centers faced the political realities of the impending Reagan years.

Today, MPCA is the voice for 32 Community Health Centers and other community-based providers in Michigan. These organizations provide comprehensive, affordable, accessible, quality primary and preventive health care for over half a million Michigan residents at 160 sites located in both rural and urban communities across the state each year. MPCA offers two classes of membership - active and associate. See the Members page for more information about active and associate membership.

MPCA Historical Timeline:

1978: Incorporation of Michigan Association of Rural Health Care (MARHC) to help meet health care needs of the state's rural communities through development of a network of rural health care providers and advocate organizations.

1981: Incorporation of Michigan Primary Care Association to include urban communities within the Association's scope to broaden the base of advocacy and support across urban, rural, migrant, homeless, and other special populations care sites in Michigan's underserved communities.

1983: Michigan was one of three states supporting the block granting of Section 330 Community Health Center grants that historically have gone directly from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to communities. The National Association of Community Health Centers and Michigan Primary Care Association took formal positions in opposition to the Block Grant effort.

1985: President Reagan enforces performance mandate; new rural centers put at risk by mandate to be economically viable in three years resulting in closure of many rural Community Health Centers nationally. The National Association of Community Health Centers and Primary Care Associations increased technical assistance to help Health Centers improve business acumen.

1994: Community Choice Michigan (CCM), a Health Center-owned Medicaid HMO, develops. It was spun off in 1995 and sold to Care Source in 2007, resulting in substantial economic return to participating Community Health Centers.

1998: Michigan Primary Care Association becomes the lead Primary Care Association for Midwest Cluster of Health Disparities Collaboratives in cooperation with the MidWest Clinicians' Network resulting in increased capacity in quality improvement, redesign, information technology (IT) and information systems (IS) capacity, and increased MPCA involvement in quality and IT systems policy development on a national and state level.

1999: MPCA receives SIMIS grant, serves as foundation for development of VirtualCHC and the platform for potential data aggregation, warehouse capacity, and laboratory for IS.

2006: MPCA buys and renovates building at 7215 Westshire Drive in Lansing, Michigan, the Association's current home and a facility that we share with other organizations for office and meeting space.

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