Per the HRSA Program Compliance Manual and Site Visit Protocol, Chapter 20 (Board Composition), 51 percent of board members are to be patients served by the health center. For the purposes of board composition, a patient is an individual who has received at least one service in the past 24 months that generated a health center visit, where both the service and the site where the service was received are within the HRSA-approved scope of project. A flu vaccine can be considered a patient visit if the health center determines that the service is documented in the patient’s health record and provided by clinical staff acting on behalf of the health center.

Although meeting the minimum criteria is essential, it’s important to keep in mind the rationale behind the necessity of having a Board of Directors with a majority of patient representatives. Additionally, it’s important to note that while a flu vaccine may satisfy the minimum criteria for the HRSA Program Requirements, health centers must also comply with other local, state, and federal regulations, and this specific type of visit may not align with all of those requirements.