Every October 28, National Immigrants Day recognizes the generations of immigrants who have contributed to America’s communities, economy and culture.

For Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), it’s also an opportunity to recognize something that happens every day: helping people from diverse and underserved communities gain access to healthcare when barriers might otherwise stand in their way.

It’s a mission that is especially meaningful to American Health Connection (AHC), a company founded by two immigrants and committed to helping FQHCs expand access to quality healthcare for underserved communities who may be limited due to language barriers. Because of this, AHC is committed to speaking your patient’s language. We staff your dedicated call center with 100% USA-based bilingual agents who speak most major languages, including Spanish, Tagalog, Arabic, and others.

Throughout October, leading up to National Immigrants Day, we’ll examine one important part of that mission that can sometimes be overlooked:

Communication.

Because healthcare access doesn’t always begin when someone walks through the doors of a health center.

Very often, it begins with a phone call.

FQHCs Serve Some of America’s Most Diverse Communities

Health centers play an extraordinary role in America’s healthcare system.

According to 2025 Uniform Data System data from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), federally funded health centers served approximately 32.7 million patients.

Among them were approximately 8.8 million patients with limited English proficiency.

Those numbers help illustrate why National Immigrants Day is particularly relevant to the FQHC community.

Immigrant and multilingual communities may encounter additional challenges navigating healthcare—from language differences and unfamiliarity with the U.S. healthcare system to transportation, financial and technology barriers.

FQHCs help bridge many of those gaps.

But providing care is only part of accessibility.

Patients must first be able to connect with that care.

Sometimes the First Barrier Is the Telephone

Imagine someone who needs to see a healthcare provider but isn’t completely comfortable navigating the healthcare system.

The patient calls a health center.

They’re placed on hold.

Perhaps they aren’t sure which option to select from an automated menu.

Maybe they need additional assistance explaining why they’re calling.

Or maybe call volume is so high that they give up before reaching someone.

For the health center, that might appear on a report as an abandoned call.

For the caller, it can represent something much more important:

An unsuccessful attempt to access healthcare.

That’s why the call center should be considered part of an FQHC’s overall access strategy.

Communication Is Healthcare Access

National Immigrants Day provides an opportunity to consider what healthcare accessibility really means.

It’s obviously about making quality healthcare available.

But accessibility also means making it possible for people to successfully navigate the journey to that care.

Can patients easily reach the health center?

Can they get help scheduling an appointment?

Can they understand what happens next?

Can they reach someone when they have questions?

Are calls answered when demand suddenly increases?

And are patients who need additional assistance able to receive human support?

These aren’t simply call center questions.

They’re patient-access questions.

Technology Can Help—But Human Connection Still Matters

Artificial intelligence and automation are rapidly changing healthcare communication.

That’s good news for FQHCs.

Technology can help healthcare call centers forecast demand, route calls, assist agents, improve quality assurance and automate routine processes.

But efficiency shouldn’t require eliminating human interaction.

This is particularly important when serving diverse populations.

A patient navigating an unfamiliar healthcare system may need more than another automated prompt or digital tool. Sometimes they need someone who can listen, understand the situation and help determine the appropriate next step.

That’s why the strongest healthcare communication strategy may not be AI versus people.

It’s AI empowering people.

Technology can make professionally trained agents more efficient, while human interaction can help make healthcare feel more accessible.

FQHCs Also Face a Resource Challenge

There’s another side to this equation.

FQHCs aren’t operating with unlimited resources.

Patient demand can increase without a corresponding increase in staff. Seasonal illness, immunizations, physicals and other factors can produce sudden increases in call volume.

Hiring enough full-time employees to accommodate peak demand isn’t always practical.

But allowing calls to go unanswered isn’t a good alternative either.

Flexible healthcare call center support can provide another option.

By supplementing an internal team when and where additional capacity is needed, an FQHC can potentially answer more calls, capture more appointments and reduce the workload placed on its existing employees—without maintaining peak staffing levels year-round.

National Immigrants Day Is an Opportunity to Look at Patient Access Differently

Over the next several weeks leading up to National Immigrants Day on October 28, we’ll examine several ways FQHCs can make healthcare easier to access for the diverse communities they serve.

We’ll look at communication barriers.

We’ll explore the balance between AI and human interaction.

We’ll examine how FQHCs can handle increasing patient demand with limited staffing resources.

And we’ll discuss ways healthcare organizations can make the journey from “I need care” to “I have an appointment” easier for more patients.

Because celebrating America’s immigrant communities should include recognizing the organizations working every day to make healthcare accessible to them.

FQHCs are among those organizations.

And every successfully answered call represents another opportunity to fulfill that mission.

Is Your Call Center Making Healthcare Easier to Access?

American Health Connection helps healthcare organizations strengthen patient communication with advanced technology and professionally trained, U.S.-based call center agents.

As National Immigrants Day approaches, it’s a good time to ask:

How easy is it for the diverse communities you serve to connect with your organization and access care?

If increased call volume, staffing limitations, scheduling demands or unanswered calls are creating barriers, let’s talk.

Schedule a brief discovery call to identify opportunities to answer more calls, capture more appointments, reduce costs and make healthcare easier to access—without simply adding more staff.