Community Health Centers of the Rutland Region Company

Community Health is a primary care network that provides nationally-recognized programs, a focus on wellness, dental, behavioral health and pediatric specialties, walk-in Express Care, a culture of community and quality health care that almost everyone, insured or uninsured, has come to depend on.

Community Health, based in Rutland, is the largest of the 12 federally qualified health centers (FQHC) in the state of Vermont. Nationally, more than 1,200 FQHCs provide primary health care to one out of every 14 people. In Vermont, FQHCs provide care to approximately one in four Vermonters.

Community Health opened in 2004 as Community Health Centers of the Rutland Region providing a network of medical, dental and behavioral health care. It’s grown to include seven medical facilities and a pharmacy – Rutland, Brandon, West Pawlet (Mettowee), Shorewell, Castleton, Community Health Pediatrics, Community Health Dental, Brandon Community Pharmacy – which in 2019 handled close to 187,900 patient visits, providing care to over 41,800 patients in the Rutland County/southern Addison County region which includes over three-quarters of the residents of Rutland County.

First established in 1965 as part of President Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty, FQHCs are primary care centers, located in underserved and rural areas, that provide high quality, cost-effective health care regardless of an individual’s ability to pay. The success of the FQHCs was recognized by Congress when creating the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in 2010 and the ACA legislation permanently authorized the program.

“FQHCs in general are safety net providers of primary, wellness and preventative care for those who are uninsured or underinsured,” said Community Health CEO Don Reuther. “It is both our mission and mandate from the government that we see any patient regardless of their financial ability to pay.”