School-based Health Centers are modeled in Los Angeles County, CA. 

Click here to learn how School-Based Health Centers funded by the Massachusetts Department of Public are making a real difference in the health and well-being of young people across the Commonwealth.

School-based health centers (SBHCs) provide students with access to health care immediately on campus for acute and chronic conditions as well as preventative care. This helps kids stay in school and miss less school days, improving academic and health outcomes.

School-based health centers must provide primary health care on-site (school-based) or off-site (school-linked). They may also provide mental health care, social services, dentistry, and health education. If targeted to low-income communities, SBHCs are likely to reduce gaps in education and improve health equity.

Characteristics of School-based health centers include:

- They can provide health services to students of all ages, from pre-kindergarten through high school.

- Students must have parental consent. Individual students may not be able to get specific types of care, such as reproductive or mental health.

- They are often created in schools that serve predominantly low-income communities.

- Services may be provided to school staff, student family members, and others within the surrounding community.

- Use single clinician to provide primary care services, or multi-disciplinary teams to provide complex services.

- Medical centers or healthcare providers that are independent of the school system may provide services.

- Services may be available only during some school days or hours, or during non-school hours.

See the Community Guide for more information about School-based health centers. 

School-based health centers must provide primary health care on-site (school-based) or off-site (school-linked). They may also provide mental health care, social services, dentistry, and health education.

Characteristics of School-based health centers include:

  - They can provide health services to students of all ages, from pre-kindergarten through high school.
  - Students must have parental consent. Individual students may not be able to get specific types of care, such as reproductive or mental health.
  - They are often created in schools that serve predominantly low-income communities.
  - Services may be provided to school staff, student family members, and others within the surrounding community.
  - Use single clinician to provide primary care services, or multi-disciplinary teams to provide complex services.
  - Medical centers or healthcare providers that are independent of the school system may provide services.
  - Services may be available only during some school days or hours, or during non-school hours.

See the Community Guide for more information about School-based health centers. 

To estimate the impact of a program or policy, we use systematic literature reviews to determine causal pathways and effect sizes. Well-researched interventions that have robust, high-quality evaluations allow us to model the impact of an intervention with greater certainty. However, sometimes interventions have limited evidence and not all of the outcomes that are likely to be associated with the intervention have been studied. In those cases, we can only model what is available in the evidence base. We urge future research to take the following gaps into consideration.

Graduation Rates by Race and Ethnicity – While the studies provided estimates of the effect of the intervention on high school graduation, there were no estimates for the effect on subgroups. Therefore, the model utilized the same effect size across all race and ethnicity subgroups. More research is needed to provide more precise measurements of the impact of the intervention.