Community Health Centers
Boston Medical Center has a long history of close ties to the surrounding community and its community-based health care providers. This is exemplified by the Boston HealthNet which was established in 1995 to create an integrated health care delivery system among its members. A study by the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers found that community health centers serve one out of every nine people in the Commonwealth.
Formed during the merger of Boston City Hospital in Boston University Medical Center Hospital, the Boston HealthNet network with its community health center partners is an essential element in protecting and expanding the public mission of Boston Medical Center. This network continues to grow and to fill this role more than a decade later. Among its many-faceted mission, one of this model network’s key goal has been the promotion and advancement of medical education and the training of primary care physicians. As such, Boston HealthNet has become one of the fastest growing and most influential community healthcare networks in Boston serving the city’s underserved and working-class neighborhoods.
Today, the network has grown to include fifteen HealthNet community health centers and Boston Medical Center. The network’s primary partner community health centers are Codman Square Health Center in Dorchester, Dorchester House Multi-service Center, East Boston Neighborhood Health Center, Greater Roslindale Medical and Dental Center, Harvard Street Community Health Center in Dorchester, Health Care for the Homeless, Mattapan Community Health Center, South Boston Community Health Center, Upham’s Corner Health Center in Dorchester, and a Whittier Street Health.
