Article: Palliative care-based MLP recovered nearly $1 milllion for hospital

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

By Kerry Rodabaugh, Maureen Hammond, Dawn Myszka, & Megan Sandel Journal of Palliative Medicine

In a three-year period, 297 referrals were made to a palliative care-based medical-legal partnership for legal assistance with custody planning and guardianships, advance care planning, benefits advocacy, estate planning, and housing. An article in the Journal of Palliative Medicine details how the medical-legal partnership was able to solve many of patients’ legal problems and help them access critical public benefits, while also providing financial benefit to the hospital. Through 17 cases where the MLP helped patients enroll in previously denied health care coverage, the hospital was able to recover $923,188 in unreimbursed clinical services.