More than 370,000 West Virginians -- about 20 percent of the population -- receive care from community-based primary-care health clinics, and that number is expected to grow with the implementation of the national Health Care Reform Act.

Community health clinics across the nation have made a commitment to double the number of patients they see under the reform law, said Louise Reese, chief executive officer of the state Primary Care Association.

West Virginia is the exception to the pledge, Reese said.

"It's unreal to say we'll double," she said, "because we already see so many."

She does expect to see a high influx of patients to the clinics as more West Virginians become insured, though. In preparation, community health centers across the state have received federal and local money to renovate or expand their facilities.

One such clinic is the new Eleanor FamilyCare HealthCenter that opened in June.

The new facility was built with federal stimulus money and state funding, and offers family, pediatric, women's health and prenatal care. In the two months it has been open, more than 800 people have used its services.

The clinic serves residents in northern Putnam County and southern Mason County who had been driving to the Teays Valley FamilyCare clinic, said Martha Carter of the state FamilyCare system.

The clinic is the eighth FamilyCare facility to open in the state, and serves residents in Putnam, Kanawha and Boone Counties. The Teays Valley clinic services about 23,000 people.

"We're trying to make health care accessible to residents in their own community," Carter said.

There is a national movement for people to find a health-care home, where their records live and where their care is coordinated, she said.

Today, the way care is distributed between insurance companies, different payers and medical facilities, "The one constant is the relationship between the patient and their health-care provider, and that is the medical home," she said.

Community health centers have filled that role for about 45 years nationwide, she said, and FamilyCare clinics have for about 20 years.

"What we try to do is look at the whole person," Carter said. "Sometimes you go in and all you have is an earache, but most of the time when you go in for something, you're probably behind on getting [another] screening based on your age or gender."

Community health centers serve residents, whether they have health insurance or not, Reese said. "The primary goal is to provide health care to the public, no matter their ability to pay."

About of a third of the system's patients are uninsured, a third have private coverage and a third are covered by Medicare or Medicaid, Carter said.

"In a lot of rural places the [community] health clinics are the only provider a community has," Carter said. "They really serve everybody, and we're known for good care. People come here with or without insurance because they like the services we provide."

Because of the clinics mostly rural locations, community health clinics also have gained a reputation of only serving uninsured patients, she said.

"There is a lack of knowledge, that people don't know what community health clinics are," she said. "We've had situations where people are in our waiting room and say 'Oh, you take insurance?'"

Community health centers serve more than 20 million people nationwide, in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and several territories.

West Virginia leads the nation for use of the centers, at 20 percent.

Vermont has the next highest rate of people who go to community clinics, at about 13.3 percent, followed by New Mexico at about 13 percent and Maine with 12.5 percent, according to a 2008 study in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Reach Veronica Nett at veroni...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-5113.