About AACHC

Rich Polheber
Interim Chief Executive Officer of AACHC

We are delighted to have you visiting our web site at AACHC. Our team is committed to helping the many primary care providers in Arizona. We hope you will find your visit with us informative and our assistance valuable.

Our goal as the Arizona Primary Care Association (PCA) is to serve as a resource to our members and future members. Our vision is to promote and facilitate the development and delivery of affordable and accessible primary healthcare for everyone in the state of Arizona, through advocacy, education, and technical assistance.

Some Of Our Activities

The Association, a non- profit 501c3 tax exempt organization, offers an array of programs, designed to actively improve the health status of the indigent and medically underserved in our state. Arizona has one of the lowest per capita incomes in the United States at 38th in the United States. Arizona also has the third highest rate of uninsured (17.6%) people in the country, behind Texas with 26% and Louisiana. Arizona as a result also provides Medicaid benefits to more than one million residents of our state, nearly 18% of our population. Most Medicaid recipients or beneficiaries are under nine years of age.

Through association programs such as Outreach and Enrollment, we accelerate eligibility determination for government funded health programs; our community development programs assists rural communities and our existing membership in creating or expanding medical services to underserved areas in order to create more access to health care.

We proudly manage one of the most diverse array of health related programs in the United States. However, all staff and Board member share one common goal. Simply stated, that is to improve the health status of individuals and families who need primary care services and may not have the financial resources, or health insurance to pay for them. Achieving this mission will result in a more productive workforce, a more equitable distribution of health care services and a much healthier Arizona for all of us. Equally important is the fact that America's spiraling health care costs will decrease only if primary and preventive healthy care services can truly become "universal."

The AACHC has many programs to assist member community health centers and the disadvantage populations they serve. These programs vary from centralizing financial information and educational opportunities for members to the recent creation of an association sponsored and HRSA financed health care provider network for the uninsured in Maricopa County, (greater Phoenix) Arizona. More than 60% of the 5.9 million people in Arizona live in Maricopa County.