As part of our work as a HRSA-funded National Training and Technical Assistance Partner (NTTAP), the National Center for Medical-Legal Partnership published a toolkit today that provides the health center community with information and resources to start, strengthen, and sustain a medical-legal partnership (MLP). The toolkit can be used both by health centers new to MLP who want help with the initial planning process and by health centers that are already actively providing legal services, but want help facilitating continuous quality improvement conversations to address issues like low/high referral volumes or funding instability. Click here to download the toolkit.
Note: While this toolkit is written specifically for the health center community, much of the guidance and resources will be applicable to teams in other health care settings. NCMLP also released a guide for VA-based MLPs last year.
What’s covered in the toolkit?
Part I outlines nine conversations that a health center team should have with its legal partners to plan for an MLP’s long-term success and to integrate it into the health center’s operations. These conversations cover everything from staffing to funding to information sharing. Each conversation includes questions for your team, decisions you will need to make, advantages and challenges to different approaches, and links to case studies and more information.
Part II is a deep dive into the specifics of how to develop screening, referral, and service delivery workflows.
Part III looks at how integrating legal services can support health center workforce development, with a particular focus on training.
Part IV illustrates the types of projects MLPs can engage in to help your health center move upstream to address social determinants of health and health equity at a policy level.