Annotated Bibliography: Evidence for the value and impact of Community Health Centres

There is an abundance of evidence demonstrating the value and impact of Community Health Centres (CHCs), the critical role they play in Ontario’s Health System, and their potential to advance health system integration and sustainability. Research has shown that that CHCs provide superior preventive care and chronic disease management, advance population health, and make access to health care more equitable. They are uniquely adapted to supporting the health and wellbeing of marginalized communities and of people who live with social and medical complexity. This, in turn, reduces emergency department visits and hospitalizations. CHCs have also been shown to provide superior experiences to both patients and providers. In Ontario, CHCs are leaders in data collection and outcome measurement; this supports accountability to their funders and communities and drives continuous quality improvement. 

The resources listed in this bibliography are diverse. They include peer-reviewed and grey literature as well as reports produced by and for the Alliance, its members, and system partners. We have organized them according to major themes; however, many of the articles address more than one of them, and there are, additionally, minor themes woven throughout. For this reason, we have listed a selection of keywords under each entry.