What competency skills do federally –funded community health centers' middle managers need?

This is a report of an exploratory study of middle managers employed in federally funded community health centers (FQHCs) regarding the competencies needed to be effective managers. The mission of the FQHCs is to increase access to affordable primary medical care to uninsured and underinsured individuals in medically underserved areas. Many of the staff at FQHCs are hired from the community and are promoted to management positions. Their managerial skills are usually obtained through ‘on the job' training. There are a number of studies that evaluated the competency level needs of managers in hospitals, long-term care facilities, ambulatory care facilities. However, none of them focus specifically on those whose organizations' primary mission is to serve the medically underserved individuals. Ten CEOs were interviewed to pilot test the competency assessment survey and then mailed to CEOs and middle managers at 400 randomly selected community health centers. The results will contribute to the health administration literature, will provide another dimension of managerial needs of middle managers that could be addressed with enhanced staff development, and will provide insight to the undergraduate Health Administration program regarding its curriculum at our university and other universities. This study could also be replicated in other community based primary care settings.