Georgia Medicaid FQHC and RHC Coverage: Find a Clinic

If you have Georgia Medicaid or no insurance at all and need a regular doctor, a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) or Rural Health Clinic (RHC) is built for you. These clinics are a benefit every state Medicaid program must cover, and an FQHC cannot turn you away because you cannot pay. This guide explains what each clinic type covers in Georgia, what a visit costs you, and how to find one near you.

Federally Qualified Health Centers and Rural Health Clinics are the backbone of safety-net primary care in Georgia. FQHC and RHC services are part of the federally mandatory Medicaid benefit set. The Social Security Act lists rural health clinic services and Federally-qualified health center services in its definition of medical assistance at 42 USC 1396d(a)(2)(B) and (C), and 42 CFR 440.210(a)(1) makes them minimum required services for the categorically needy, so Georgia Medicaid, like every state program, must cover them.1 For a family on Medicaid, that makes a community health center a guaranteed place to get primary care, behavioral health, and often dental at little or no cost. For an uninsured family, the FQHC sliding fee scale caps what you owe and keeps the door open regardless of immigration status.

This guide is written for the person deciding where to go: a parent without insurance, a Medicaid member who needs a primary care home, a rural resident whose nearest clinic is an RHC. It explains the difference between an FQHC and an RHC, what each covers in Georgia, what you can expect to pay, how the 340B Drug Pricing Program makes medications cheaper, and the phone numbers that get you to a clinic and to help enrolling in Medicaid.

In This Guide

• What is the difference between an FQHC and an RHC?
• What does a Georgia Medicaid FQHC or RHC cover?
• What will a visit cost me?
• How does Georgia Medicaid pay an FQHC or RHC?
• Where are Georgia's safety-net clinics?
• How real Georgia families use these clinics
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Where to get help
• Learn More

What is the difference between an FQHC and an RHC?

Both are safety-net clinics that Medicaid must cover (FQHC and RHC services are part of the mandatory Medicaid benefit set under 42 USC 1396d(a)(2) and 42 CFR 440.2101), but they are different programs with different rules. The short version: an FQHC is a comprehensive community health center that can sit anywhere, must offer a sliding fee scale, and is eligible to run a discounted 340B pharmacy. An RHC is a primary-care clinic that must be in a rural, shortage-designated area and is built around access where doctors are scarce.

Federally Qualified Health Centers are authorized under Section 330 of the Public Health Service Act (42 USC 254b), which created the federal Health Center Program run by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). To qualify, an organization must have a governing board a majority of whom are patients being served by the center, prepare a schedule of discounts adjusted on the basis of the patient's ability to pay, and assure that no patient is denied services because of inability to pay.2 The program reaches four populations through its sub-programs: community health centers, migrant health centers for farmworkers, Health Care for the Homeless, and public housing primary care.

Rural Health Clinics were created by the Rural Health Clinic Services Act of 1977 to address doctor shortages in rural America. An RHC must be in a non-urbanized area that is also a Health Professional Shortage Area, Medically Underserved Area, or Medically Underserved Population, must employ a nurse practitioner, physician assistant, or certified nurse midwife, and must be certified by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). An RHC can be hospital-based (often attached to a Critical Access Hospital) or an independent practice in a small town.

What does a Georgia Medicaid FQHC or RHC cover?

An FQHC offers comprehensive primary care plus services that many regular doctors' offices do not. A typical Georgia FQHC provides:

• Medical care: well-child visits with Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic, and Treatment (EPSDT) screenings, adult and geriatric primary care, immunizations, chronic disease management for diabetes, hypertension, and asthma, prenatal care at some sites, HIV care, and treatment for sexually transmitted infections.
• Behavioral health: mental health assessment and counseling, treatment for depression and anxiety, substance use treatment including medications for opioid use disorder, and integrated behavioral health where a counselor is available during a primary care visit.
• Dental: cleanings, fillings, extractions, and other services, for children and (at many sites) adults.
• Pharmacy: at most sites, a 340B pharmacy that supplies medications at discounted prices, on-site or through contracted retail pharmacies. Participation is optional, so confirm it with the clinic.
• Enabling services: help enrolling in Medicaid, Georgia Pathways to Coverage, or PeachCare for Kids; transportation assistance; interpretation; and case management.

Dental is one of the most useful FQHC services.3 Georgia Medicaid expanded adult (age 21 and older) dental coverage effective July 1, 2024, removing the covered-procedure limits that had applied to adults, so adult members can now get diagnostic, preventive, restorative, periodontal, prosthodontic, endodontic, and emergency dental care and oral surgery through the program and through FQHC dental clinics. Two conditions ride with it: the service has to be medically necessary, and prior authorization is required for every adult dental service except emergency care. The clinic files that request, but it means non-emergency work is usually scheduled rather than done the day you walk in.

An RHC offers primary care and some preventive services: adult and pediatric primary care, acute and chronic disease management, immunizations, basic lab work, and telehealth. RHCs generally do not offer dental, a 340B pharmacy, comprehensive enabling services, or specialty care. They are primary care destinations for rural communities.

What will a visit cost me?

What you pay depends on your coverage.

If you have Georgia Medicaid, your FQHC or RHC visits carry little to no out-of-pocket cost. The clinic bills Medicaid (or your managed care plan) for the visit.

If you are uninsured, a health center in the federal Health Center Program is required by federal law to run a schedule of discounts adjusted to your ability to pay, and it cannot deny you service because you cannot pay.2 The clinic asks for income and household information to set your discounted charge; lower income means a lower charge, down to a nominal fee at the bottom of the scale. This protection applies regardless of insurance status, and the Health Center Program sets no citizenship or immigration eligibility test. An RHC is not required to run a sliding fee scale, so ask before your visit if cost is a concern.

If you are in Georgia Pathways to Coverage, an FQHC enrollment specialist can often help you apply and stay enrolled.4 Georgia Pathways to Coverage is the state's limited Medicaid expansion for adults ages 19 to 64 with income up to 100% of the Federal Poverty Level who complete at least 80 hours per month of qualifying activities such as work, school, job training, SNAP work-requirement compliance, or caring for a child under six who is enrolled in (or applying for) Medicaid with them. Pathways is a Section 1115 demonstration, not permanent law: it was temporarily extended through December 31, 2026 and a longer-term extension application is still pending with CMS, so check its status before you count on it past that date.

Whatever your coverage, ask the front desk whether the clinic has a 340B pharmacy. FQHCs are eligible as Section 330 grantees to buy outpatient medications through the 340B Drug Pricing Program at discounted prices and can pass the savings on, which can make expensive drugs like insulin, HIV medications, or hepatitis C treatment far more affordable. Participation is a choice each health center makes, so ask rather than assume. Federal law bars a "duplicate discount," so a drug cannot generate both a 340B discount and a Medicaid rebate; the clinic, your managed care plan, and the state sort that out behind the scenes.5

How does Georgia Medicaid pay an FQHC or RHC?

You do not need to manage this, and none of it changes what you owe, but it explains why your visit is covered whichever plan you carry. Medicaid pays FQHCs and RHCs on a per-encounter basis rather than a separate fee for each item in the visit, which is why a long, complicated appointment is covered the same way a quick one is.

Many Georgia Medicaid members are enrolled in managed care through Georgia Families.6 As of July 2026, Georgia Families works through three Care Management Organizations: Amerigroup Community Care, CareSource, and Peach State Health Plan. A 2024 reprocurement named a different slate of plans, but it is still in the protest phase, so the three current contracts were extended through June 30, 2027 and no member transition has happened. Whichever of the three you are in, your FQHC or RHC visit is covered, and the clinic settles the payment with your plan and the state.

Some rural RHCs are attached to a Critical Access Hospital.7 A Critical Access Hospital is a rural facility with no more than 25 inpatient beds that is paid by Medicare at 101 percent of reasonable cost rather than under the standard inpatient or outpatient payment systems. It normally has to sit more than a 35-mile drive on primary roads from another hospital or CAH (or more than 15 miles in mountainous terrain or where only secondary roads connect them). But a hospital its state certified as a "necessary provider" before January 1, 2006 is grandfathered out of that mileage test, so plenty of CAHs sit closer to a neighbor than the rule alone would suggest. An RHC attached to one is often the anchor for primary care across a wide rural area.

Where are Georgia's safety-net clinics?

Georgia has FQHC organizations operating clinic sites across the state, from metro Atlanta to the rural southwest. They include Mercy Care and Whitefoord Inc. in Atlanta, Southside Medical Center, Mercy Care of Macon, Curtis V. Cooper Primary Health Care in Savannah, and Albany Area Primary Health Care in the southwest, among others. The Georgia Primary Care Association, the statewide FQHC trade association, can point you to a site and is reachable at 404-659-2861.

Migrant health programs serve farmworkers in agricultural regions of south and southwest Georgia, and Health Care for the Homeless programs operate in several Georgia cities, including Atlanta, Savannah, Macon, Columbus, and Albany. The HRSA directory below is the authoritative list of where each program runs today.

RHCs are spread across rural counties, many attached to a Critical Access Hospital or rural hospital, others independent. The Georgia State Office of Rural Health, part of the Georgia Department of Community Health (DCH), supports rural clinics and administers the federal Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility Program. It is based in Cordele and reachable at 229-401-3090.

To find any clinic by location, use HRSA's Find a Health Center directory at findahealthcenter.hrsa.gov or call 1-877-464-4772.

How real Georgia families use these clinics

These are illustrative examples, not real patients. They show how FQHC and RHC services tend to work in practice.

Aisha, 22, Atlanta: pregnant and uninsured

Aisha is uninsured and recently learned she is pregnant. She walks into an Atlanta FQHC, where the front desk explains she can be seen today on the sliding fee scale and that an outreach worker can help her apply for Pregnancy Medicaid.8 Georgia covers pregnant women with budget-group income at or below 220% of the Federal Poverty Level. Her clinic happens to be one of the medical facilities the Department of Community Health has approved to make presumptive-eligibility decisions, so Aisha gets a temporary Medicaid certification the same day and starts prenatal care right away. Not every clinic is a presumptive-eligibility site, so that is the first thing to ask. The certification is temporary and covers outpatient services only: the clinic forwards her packet to the local DFCS or Right from the Start worker, who makes the full determination. Once she is approved, her coverage runs through the pregnancy and the full 12-month postpartum period, ending at the close of the twelfth month.

Marcus, 45, Macon: diabetic and between jobs

Marcus lost his job and his insurance and is managing Type 2 diabetes. He returns to his FQHC in Macon, where the sliding fee scale applies given his current income, and the 340B pharmacy keeps his medications affordable. The clinic's enrollment specialist helps him apply for Georgia Pathways to Coverage; once he is meeting the qualifying-activity requirement through a job-training program, his Pathways Medicaid covers his visits.

Diana, 72, Lincoln County: dual eligible in a rural area

Diana has both Medicare and Medicaid and lives where the nearest primary care is an RHC attached to the local Critical Access Hospital. The RHC manages her hypertension and arthritis, runs annual wellness visits, and coordinates with specialists in Augusta. It bills Medicare first and Medicaid second, and offers telehealth when she cannot drive in.

Common things families miss

A few points trip up families navigating these clinics, even though FQHC and RHC services are a mandatory Medicaid benefit under 42 USC 1396d(a)(2) and 42 CFR 440.210 that Georgia must cover.1

• FQHCs serve everyone, not just Medicaid patients. The sliding fee scale keeps the door open for the uninsured.
• An FQHC does not condition care on immigration status. The Health Center Program sets no citizenship or immigration eligibility test. The clinic may ask for income to set your sliding fee, but service does not depend on citizenship.
• The 340B pharmacy can save you a lot, where the clinic has one. Participation is optional, so ask, especially for costly medications.
• Adult dental needs prior authorization. Every adult dental service except emergency care has to be authorized first, so plan for a scheduled second visit.
• RHCs are not FQHCs. RHCs generally do not have a 340B pharmacy, a sliding fee requirement, or comprehensive dental and behavioral health.
• FQHC enabling services are real help. Eligibility assistance, transportation, and interpretation come with the clinic.

Where to get help

To find a federally qualified health center or rural health clinic, ask about the sliding fee scale and 340B medications, or get help applying for Medicaid through a clinic outreach worker, start with these contacts.

Learn More

Find personalized help navigating Georgia FQHC and RHC services at brevy.com.

The information on Brevy.com is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional legal, financial, or medical advice. Rules vary by state and program and change frequently. Always verify with the relevant agency or a qualified professional. Brevy is not a law firm, financial advisor, or healthcare provider.