I-HELP™ Bootcamp: Strengthening Your Ability to Spot and Manage Patients’ Complex Health-Harming Legal Issues

Thursday, November 14, 2024

By National Center for Medical-Legal Partnership

Overview

NCMLP’s new I-HELP™ Bootcamp is a 5-session learning collaborative designed for healthcare staff of all backgrounds—clinical and nonclinical—to strengthen their knowledge of the legal challenges faced by low-income patient populations. This bootcamp enhanced participants capacity to spot legal needs that affect patient health, improve their ability to screen and refer patients to legal aid, and develop strategies to provide more precise guidance and quality referrals to legal partners. Through case studies and interactive discussions, healthcare teams explored current legal issues across I-HELP™ categories: Income, Housing & utilities, Education & Employment, Legal status, and Personal & family stability.

Learning Objectives:

1. Improve your ability to understand, screen for, and refer patients to legal aid for both common and complex legal issues impacting health.
2. Practice navigating case studies that highlight pressing legal issues in the I-HELP™ categories.
3. Enhance strategies for providing more accurate referrals and legal support, leader to greater access and better health outcomes for patients.

Faculty and Guest speakers

  • Katie Hathaway, Consultant, National Center for Medical-Legal Partnership
  • Bethany Hamilton JD, Co-Director, National Center for Medical-Legal Partnership

Session Overview

Session 1 : Income Slides

Common social and legal needs related to income, such as food stamps, health insurance, cash benefits, and disability benefits. It will include at least one case study discussion about the application of MLP strategies to an income-related barrier.

Session 2: Housing and Utilities Slides

Common social and legal needs related to housing and utilities, such as housing subsidies, substandard housing conditions, evictions, and utility shut-off actions. It will include at least two case study discussions.

Session 3 : Education and EmploymentSlides

Common social and legal needs related to education and employment, such as special education services, employment discrimination, and workplace rights. It will include at least two case study discussions.

Session 4: Legal Status Slides

Common social and legal needs related to legal status to access jobs, such as veteran discharge status, criminal and credit histories, and asylum applications. It will include at least one case study discussion.

Session 5: Personal and Family stabilitySlides

Common social and legal needs related to personal and family stability, such as restraining orders for domestic violence, and adoption, custody, and guardianship for children.

Additional Resources

To gain a deeper understanding of the topics covered, we invite you to review the following reading materials at your convenience: