CNECT and Our Family
of Companies: Built to
Serve Community
Health Centers
A Brief History of CNECT
In 1979, CNECT became the first group purchasing organization built solely to meet the needs of community health centers.Â
We were established by our parent company, Health Center Partners (HCP), just two years after they were formed in a garage behind Mid-City Community Clinic in San Diego. Their goal was clear: to combat the financial challenges of their member health centers by centralizing their procurement.Â
Back then, we were a supply co-op called Council of Community Clinics Service Corp. (CCCSC) with a handful of members. Over the years, we negotiated contracts with a variety of big-name brands, giving our health centers access to top-quality products at discounted prices.Â
In 2006, we made the transformative decision to join Premier Purchasing Partners LP. As a result, our members were able to take advantage of deeper discounts and even more contracts, giving them the ability to save money across their health center. By this time, our membership had grown to 430 organizations, covering 2,200 sites and 27 states.Â
And now, more than 40 years after our formation, we’ve changed our name and seen our membership grow to more than 900 health centers and over 9,300 total members. But, despite our growth, we’ve never lost sight of our roots, and we remain committed to the health center movement and achieving health equity.Â
Our Family of CompaniesÂ
CNECT is part of a family of companies whose purpose is to serve community health centers.
Our family of companies consists of four organizations: Health Center Partners (HCP), Integrated Health Partners (IHP), Health Quality Partners (HQP), and CNECT. We work collaboratively to help our members improve operational efficiencies and deliver high-quality healthcare.Â
A champion for community healthcare, our family of companies blends its years of experience, richly talented staff, and deep knowledge of its members to deliver programs, resources, and advocacy designed to enrich the patient experience.Â
Here’s an overview of each company’s work:Â
Health Center Partners — Serves as a voice and healthcare policy advocate for community health centers, working closely with decisionmakers at federal, state, and county levels.Â
Integrated Health Partners — A clinically integrated network that unites community health centers for the common purpose of advancing standards of quality care, improving health outcomes, and reducing costs.Â
Health Quality Partners — Improves health outcomes by implementing progressive and collaborative programs to support community health centers in caring for the safety-net population.Â
CNECT — Combines the purchasing power of its membership to negotiate discounted prices with vendors, passing them on to its members to help reduce their costs and address financial challenges.Â
Member-Powered Advocacy
Strong advocacy is critical to the success of health centers. It’s the primary focus of our parent company, HCP, and something CNECT and its members are closely involved in.Â
As the for-profit enterprise within our family of companies, CNECT shares its revenue with HCP in order to fund its crucial advocacy work. As a result, our health center members know that, by purchasing through CNECT, they are contributing to advocacy that champions and furthers the health center movement.Â
The impact of our advocacy is clear. In 2023, thanks to the tireless work of HCP and our government affairs team, both the House and Senate passed legislation that increased health center funding by hundreds of millions of dollars.Â
