Green A. Ekadi, PhD, Family and Community Medicine, Meharry Medical College, 1005 D. B. Todd Jr. Boulevard, Nashville, TN 37208 and Lorraine A. Henry, BS, Division of Public Health Practice, Meharry Medical College, School of Graduate Studies and Research, 1005 D. B. Todd Jr. Boulevard, Nashville, TN 37208, 615-340-7759, Lhenry03@mmc.edu.

Community Health Centers (CHCs) have been around since the late 1960s. They exist primarily to cater to the health of low-income health care consumers and the at-risk members of the population. As public health agencies involved in the delivery of care to vulnerable members of the population, they have traditionally depended on the public budget. Rising health care costs have caused these community health agencies to look for new ways of doing business so as to bring “new” money and reduce costs without changing their community ownership status. Repositioning themselves has meant changes in their patient payment composition as well as a periodic review of their production functions. This search for appropriate technology and for new sources of funding that does not ignore the initial mission of catering to vulnerable members of the population raises the issue of appropriate performance measures for these public health agencies.

The objective of this study is to attempt to examine performance measures for these community health agencies that integrate effectiveness with mission to produce the kind of accountability that is consistent with public finance theory with its concern for the utilitarian value of providing “the greatest good for the greatest number.”

Learning Objectives: Develop alternative production functions and performance measures for CHCs.

Keywords: Community health centers, alternative production functions, performance measures

Learning Objectives: