Understanding the Politics of Community Health Centers and Place-Based Healthcare with Emily Parker

EJB Talks: Rutgers Bloustein School Experts

This week Stuart Shapiro talks to Assistant Professor Emily Parker about her research interests in community health centers and how they originated from her work assisting with Affordable Care Act implementation in New York state. In this EJB Talks episode, she explains what federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) are and their history in serving underserved communities. Parker discusses how FQHCs have avoided partisanship despite being government-funded, in part by appearing private and not emphasizing their government support. Her qualitative research has found that many patients were unaware and even surprised, of the government support of FQHCs. Shapiro also asks about Parker's place-based policy research on programs that target funding geographically, and how that fits in in her new surroundings at the Bloustein School. Having a health policy research background, Parker is looking forward to understanding her research from the different methodological approaches of her new urban planning colleagues.