The Achievable Health Center opened in 2013 in Culver City, California, as an innovative, licensed health center with a unique model of care, serving individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families. The Health Center was created out of the founders’ understanding of patients with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) and their needs, the recognition of the harms done by the absence of this understanding in other health care settings, and the determination to create a wraparound environment that meets those needs.

We were commissioned by the Foundation to prepare a case study of the Health Center. We reviewed background materials and conducted interviews with patients, family members, community partners, funders, Board members, and staff to assemble the data needed to develop this case study.

This case study offers a comprehensive history of the Health Center’s creation, including being designated as a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) to receive funds from the federal HRSA Health Center Program to provide primary care services in underserved areas. It then moves into a discussion of the Health Center’s patient care model, offers advice for groups interested in developing a similar health center, and codifies a wish list for the Achievable Health Center moving forward. Through this case study, the organization aims to build greater knowledge and awareness of its health center model and to encourage more community health partners to consider how they might improve health care for the population of individuals with I/DD in their communities.