Why We Care

Community Health Centers (CHCs), including Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), play a critical role in delivering primary care to underserved communities across the United States.

 

In 2024, CHCs served 33.9 million patients, more than 10% of the U.S. population, including one in three Americans living in poverty and one in five rural residents.

 

Despite their broad reach, access to vision care remains limited, with fewer than one-third of CHCs providing vision services.​ This leaves many people without essential preventive vision screening and treatment.

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Early vision screening is essential to detect eye diseases that can progress without symptoms. These eye diseases — such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD), cataract, diabetic retinopathy, and glaucoma — are leading causes of blindness and low vision in the United States.