Community health center billing for Southern California.
We bill for the safety-net clinics that care for California's communities: community health centers, FQHC Look-Alikes, and nonprofit clinics. Medi-Cal, sliding-fee, and county programs handled right, so more of every dollar goes back to patient care. Serving California since 1988.
What is community health center billing?
Community health center billing is the process of coding, submitting, and collecting claims for community and nonprofit clinics, including community health centers, FQHC Look-Alikes, and free clinics. It spans Medi-Cal managed care and fee-for-service, sliding-fee self-pay, county and uninsured programs, and grant-compliant reporting. Done right, it turns the care you already provide into the revenue that keeps your doors open.
Built for California's safety-net clinics.
Community clinics come in many forms, and each is paid a little differently. Our billing is built for all of them.
Community health centers & FQHCs
Federally qualified centers billed at your PPS rate. See our FQHC billing page for the full PPS, wrap-around, and APM detail.
FQHC Look-Alikes
You meet every FQHC requirement and earn the FQHC per-visit rate, without a 330 grant. We bill that rate correctly.
330-grant & nonprofit clinics
Grant-funded and nonprofit clinics whose billing has to stay clean for reporting and funding.
Free & charitable clinics
Mission-driven clinics serving the uninsured, where every recoverable dollar matters.
Community behavioral health
Mental-health and substance-use programs with their own Medi-Cal and county billing rules.
School-based & mobile clinics
School-based, mobile, and satellite sites that extend care into the community.
Full billing for community and nonprofit clinics.
Full revenue cycle across the whole payer mix a safety-net clinic actually touches.
Why community clinics move their billing to us.
Safety-net clinics juggle more payers than almost anyone. Here's where the money leaks, and what we fix.
Mixed payers turn into a mess
Medi-Cal plans, county programs, sliding-fee, and self-pay all at once. We keep every payer straight so nothing falls through.
Sliding-fee and self-pay slip through
Discounts miscalculated, self-pay never billed. We bill discounted care correctly and completely.
Grant and UDS reporting eats your team
Messy billing data makes reporting a nightmare. We keep encounter data clean so reporting is simple.
A biller who doesn't know clinics
A generic biller misses Look-Alike PPS and safety-net programs. We were built for mission-driven clinics.
We know how California's safety-net clinics get paid.
Community clinics bill a mix of payers no regular practice deals with. These are the rules a generic billing company was never built for, and the ones we work in every day.
Medi-Cal managed care and fee-for-service
Most community clinics bill a mix of managed-care plans and fee-for-service, and each plan carries its own rules. We know them.
Sliding-fee discount program
The sliding-fee discounts your Health Center Program requires have to be billed correctly, so you stay compliant and still collect what patients owe.
FQHC Look-Alike PPS
Look-Alikes earn the FQHC per-visit rate but receive no 330 grant. We bill that rate right. See the full PPS detail.
County & uninsured programs
County indigent and uninsured-care programs across Southern California, billed so caring for the uninsured isn't simply free work.
Special Medi-Cal programs
Family PACT, breast and cervical cancer screening through BCEDP, presumptive eligibility, and the other episodic Medi-Cal programs safety-net clinics depend on, each billed to its specific rules.
Cost reports, audits & grant-clean data
Encounter and payment data organized so your UDS report, grant filings, annual audits, and cost reports hold up when someone checks them.
Primary sources: the Health Center Program, sliding-fee, and UDS requirements (HRSA), Medi-Cal and California safety-net programs (California DHCS), and FQHC Look-Alike PPS reimbursement (CMS).
Specialist vs in-house vs a generic billing company.
All three can send a claim. Only one is built for a mission-driven, mixed-payer community clinic.
| Capability | MedBillPartner | In-house billing | Generic billing company |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mixed-payer community-clinic expertise | YesEvery payer a clinic touches | VariesDepends on one or two staff | RarelyBuilt for regular practices |
| Sliding-fee & self-pay billing | YesDiscount applied, self-pay billed | Varies | Often missed |
| FQHC Look-Alike PPS | Yes | Varies | No |
| County & uninsured programs | YesSoCal county programs | Local only | Generic |
| Grant-ready / UDS-clean reporting | YesReal-time Medi-Net data | Varies | Not their focus |
| Continuity if staff leave | YesA team, not one desk | At risk | Varies |
| Scales without new hires | Yes | Hire & train | Yes |
The numbers we manage and report.
We watch the metrics that decide your net collections, and we show them to your leadership and board every month through Medi-Net: clean-claim rate, first-pass denial rate, days in accounts receivable, sliding-fee and self-pay collections, and net collections. No black box.
Clinics stay with us for years.
The clearest sign we get you paid: clinics that have kept us for the better part of a decade.
A multi-site community health system
For a former community-clinic client, we handled their Medicare and Medi-Cal billing across clinics and health centers, tracked payments in real time, and caught charges that were slipping through.
Professional, personable, and dependable.
Change billers without dropping claims in the handoff.
A safe, staged switch that keeps your money coming in the whole way through.
Free revenue checkup
We review your denials and unpaid claims to show where money is leaking. No cost, no commitment.
We run alongside you
We run beside your current setup until we're sure nothing drops, then take the handoff.
We take over
We handle your billing, work your old unpaid claims, and clean up the backlog.
We keep improving
Clear monthly reporting and steady work to cut denials and collect more.
Expect the heavy lifting early: within 60 to 90 days the old claims are worked, denial causes are traced, and clean reporting is live. See how the transition works.
Related billing services.
FQHC Medical Billing
PPS, wrap-around & APM detail → ServiceHospitalist Billing
For hospital doctor groups → GuideSliding-Fee Billing, Explained
Discounts done the right way → GuideHow to Choose a Billing Company
A buyer's checklist → GuideHow to Switch Billing Companies
The staged transition plan → CoverageSouthern California Locations
Every county we serve →Is your health center billing every program it qualifies for?
Book a free revenue checkup. We'll pull your denials, your wrap, and your aged claims apart and show you what they're worth. Free, and you keep the findings either way.
Community clinic billing questions.
Do you bill for community clinics that aren't FQHCs?
Yes. We bill for community health centers, FQHC Look-Alikes, 330-grant and nonprofit clinics, free and charitable clinics, and community behavioral health. If your clinic serves the community, we can handle its billing, whatever its designation.
Can you handle FQHC Look-Alike billing?
Yes. FQHC Look-Alikes meet the federal requirements and earn the FQHC per-visit rate, but don't receive a 330 grant. We bill that per-visit rate the same way we bill full FQHCs, so your clinic collects the enhanced reimbursement it has earned.
How do you bill sliding-fee and self-pay patients?
We apply your sliding-fee discount schedule correctly, then bill the remaining self-pay balance. That keeps you compliant with Health Center Program rules while making sure discounted care is still billed and collected, rather than written off by mistake.
Do you handle county and special Medi-Cal programs?
Yes. We bill county indigent and uninsured-care programs across Southern California, along with special Medi-Cal programs such as Family PACT and state cancer-screening programs, each to its own rules so the care you provide is actually reimbursed.
Will our billing data stay clean for grant and UDS reporting?
Yes. We keep your encounter and payer data organized in our Medi-Net platform, so your UDS report and grant filings are straightforward rather than a year-end scramble. Clean billing data protects both your funding and your compliance.
Do you work with community clinics across Southern California?
Yes. We focus on Southern California, including Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego, Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura, and Imperial counties, so we know each county's Medi-Cal plans and safety-net programs better than a national company would.
Do you handle provider credentialing and enrollment?
Yes. Credentialing is part of our core service. We enroll and credential providers with Medicare, Medi-Cal, and commercial PPO and HMO plans for community clinics, FQHCs, and hospitalist groups, and we track renewals so a lapsed enrollment doesn't quietly stop your payments.
See how much more your clinic could collect.
Book a free revenue checkup. We'll show you where money is leaking across your payers before you commit to anything.
Last reviewed: August 2026