The Author(s) 2015. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com Abstract The Human Resource and Services Adminis- tration, Bureau of Primary Health Care Health Center

program was developed to provide comprehensive, com-munity-based quality primary care services, with an em-phasis on meeting the needs of medically underserved populations. Health Centers have been leaders in adopting innovative approaches to improve quality care delivery, including the patient centered medical home (PCMH) model. Engaging patients through patient experience assessment is an important component of PCMH evalua-tion and a vital activity that can help drive patient-centered quality improvement initiatives. A total of 488 patients from five Health Center PCMHs in south Florida were surveyed in order to improve understanding of patient ex-perience in Health Center PCMHs and to identify quality improvement opportunities. Overall patients reported very positive experience with patient-centeredness including being treated with courtesy and respect (85 % responded ‘‘always’’) and communication with their provider in a way that was easy to understand (87.7 % responded ‘‘always’’). Opportunities for improvement included patient goal setting, referrals for patients with health conditions to workshops or educational programs, contact with the Health Center via phone and appointment availability. After adjusting for patient characteristics, results suggest that some patient experience components may be modified by educational attainment, years of care and race/ethnicity of patients. Findings are useful for informing quality im-provement initiatives that, in conjunction with other patient engagement strategies, support Health Centers ’ ongoing transformation as PCMHs