Health Centers’ Role in Affordable Care Act Outreach and Enrollment: Experiences from Kentucky and Montana

The ACA created new opportunities for health centers and primary care associations (PCA) to play a leading role in supporting outreach and enrollment into new and expanded health coverage programs. Health centers and PCAs received new funding, sometimes from multiple state and federal entities, new training and tools, and a new mandate to find and enroll eligible individuals, both within their patient caseload and in the broader community. This case study examines the new roles of these entities in Kentucky and Montana, where the state PCA and health centers played an important role in their strong enrollment performance, and identifies promising strategies in their coordination with state Medicaid and insurance/exchange agencies.