Direct Relief’s release of the 2012 State of the Safety Net report is part of an ongoing effort to provide information and analytic insight on the nonprofit providers who serve a critical role in treating America’s most vulnerable patients. The second annual State of the Safety Net report is a snapshot of the efforts by a wide array of providers to care for patients in a time of intense economic stress.

The report includes the largest nationwide survey of nonprofit community clinics and health centers on their current circumstances, trends, and thoughts for the remainder of 2012. It then examines trends in patient demographics and conditions treated at Federally Qualified Health Centers from 2006 to 2010. Finally, the report concludes with an in-depth look at the vital role clinics and health centers play in two communities, Detroit, MI and Joplin, MO, one hit hard by the recession and the other by a devastating natural disaster.

Direct Relief is the only nonprofit licensed to distribute prescription medicine in all 50 states and provides charitable donations of prescription medicines for low-income patients without health insurance through a network of over 1,000 nonprofit community clinics and health centers. Extensive daily interaction with these safety net facilities enables Direct Relief to better understand the attitudes and environments of these providers.

In light of the ongoing national conversation about health care reform, it is more important than ever to understand the healthcare safety net and the circumstances of both the facilities and the millions of people who rely on it.