Partnership Health Center
We believe all people deserve access to high-quality, compassionate healthcare. Our dedicated team is proud to serve patients of all ages and all backgrounds, regardless of ability to pay. Everyone is welcome at PHC, and everyone is treated with respect and kindness.
With six locations across Missoula County and a wide array of healthcare service offerings – including Primary Medical, Dental, Behavioral Health, Pharmacy, Innovations programs, and much more – PHC is your go-to resource for all your health and wellness needs. Click here to view the full list of services we offer.
Our patient-centered care model holds each patient’s health and wellness goals at the heart of everything we do. At PHC, we believe healthcare is a partnership between patient and provider. You are the expert in your own life, and we are invited guests on your health journey.
Click here to schedule an appointment. New patients are welcome!
Yes!
Everyone is welcome at PHC, and we mean everyone. All ages, all backgrounds, all income levels, all people. We accept all forms of insurance, including private insurance, Medicaid, Medicare, Healthy Montana Kids, or no insurance at all.
When you choose PHC for your healthcare needs, you are supporting our vision of a community in which high-quality, whole-person healthcare is accessible for everyone.
“Achieving high levels of health and wellbeing for all is within the United States’ grasp. As conversations about Medicaid funding shortfalls persist, it is important to consider the program’s inception.
In the 1960s, the public pressured; the government responded. In order to achieve equitable health outcomes, we understood the need to eliminate poverty and racial injustice. With this in mind, funding for community health centers, such as Partnership Health Center, began at the same time as Medicare and Medicaid.
PHC has promoted wellbeing through comprehensive, patient-focused, equitable care for decades. We are also working to address the often-hidden impacts of social determinants of health in our community. Providing access to excellent, whole-person health care saves $24 billion
(National Association of Community Health Centers) in annual health system costs and PHC alone,
through cutting-edge innovations, has saved Montana over $500,000.
PHC began as a community response filling the need for affordable primary care in Missoula County in
1989. Fast-forward 30 years, PHC now serves approximately 17,000 individuals each year, attracting those who have many options and those who have few. Our commitment to healthy people and strong communities fully embraces issues of justice. As unequal outcomes in health persist, PHC expands sites that offer high-quality, comprehensive access to medical, dental, and behavioral health services.
Simultaneously, PHC is devoted to an “upstream” approach. This means that while PHC delivers
comprehensive services to individuals and families, we also work to effect changes at the policy level that will improve health and wellbeing. Too often health care is limited to responding to health problems of individual patients rather than working to mitigate structural conditions such as poverty, environmental issues, and work-related conditions caused by regressive public policy.”
Lara Salazar, CEO, Partnership Health Center
Partnership Health Center is recognized by the National Center for Quality Assurance as a Patient Centered Medical Home.
For patients, this means we provide as many services as we can under one roof, and we routinely collect patient feedback about their experiences and any unmet needs.
We use patient feedback to determine the next steps for program development. Over the years we have grown from a one-room medical office to a large community health center with fully integrated medical, dental, behavioral health, pharmacy and other ancillary services.
- 52% of our patients report living at or below 200% of the federal poverty level. This means that they qualify for medical, dental, and behavioral health services at discounted costs.
- 29% of our patients live at or below 100% of the poverty level. For a single person, this means they live on less than $12,140 per year and for a family of four, this means they live on less than $25,100.
- 7% of our patients identify as homeless. Partnership Health Center is a Health Care for the Homeless grantee.
Insurance
- 37% have Medicaid, CHIP or other public insurance
- 17% of our patients do not have insurance
- 27% have private insurance
Race and Ethnicity
- 83% are White
- 7% are American Indian/Alaska Native
- 2% are Black/African American
- 1% are Asian
- 4% identified as Hispanic/Latino
Age
- 13% are 17 and under
- 9% are 18-24
- 19% are 25-34
- 15% are 25-44
- 12% are 45-54
- 15% are 55-64
- 15% are 55-64
- 17% are over 65
Strategic Plan & Priorities
We have a lot on the horizon. Here’s our list of strategic plans and priorities as a health center.
Our History
The early concept for Partnership Health Center began during the late 1980s during a roundtable discussion about Missoula County residents who did not have access to affordable healthcare.
In response, private physicians, the Missoula City-County Health Department, St. Patrick Hospital and Community Medical Center joined the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the U.S. Bureau of Primary Health Care to start a clinic that would provide low-cost health care.
