Wednesday, April 18, 2018

Patients-to-policy story: Keeping children safe from lead poisoning

After seeing many patients with lead poisoning who were prohibited from moving to a new home and still maintain their federal housing assistance, the medical-legal partnership at Erie Family Health Centers built a multi-state coalition that got the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to update its federal lead regulations. Now, they are working to pass a federal bill that will require lead inspections of all federally assisted housing units before families move in....Read More

Wednesday, April 11, 2018

Patients-to-policy story: Eliminating hurdles to life saving medication

The moment you’re exposed to the HIV virus, a clock starts ticking. You have 72-hours to begin taking medication that greatly reduces your risk of contracting the virus, and the sooner you start taking it, the more effective it is. Whitman-Walker Health’s medical-legal partnership worked with insurance companies to remove requirements forcing Post-Exposure Prophylaxis medications to be filled by mail. By doing so, they ensured people who were exposed to the HIV virus could get the medication they needed filled at a local pharmacy within the 72-hour window when the drug can be effective in preventing the transmission of HIV....Read More

Wednesday, April 4, 2018

Patients-to-policy story: Helping kids get at-home care

When children on ventilators were unable to leave the hospital due to a home-nursing shortage caused by low Medicaid reimbursement rates, the medical-legal partnership at Seattle Children’s sued the state Medicaid Director and the Director of the Healthcare Authority to help kids return home. They then turned their attention to advocacy with the state agencies to fix the reimbursement rates....Read More

Thursday, March 1, 2018

Brief: How medical-legal partnership services can help address the opioid crisis

This issue brief examines how legal services--delivered alongside medical and behavioral health services--can help support recovery from substance use disorders. The brief highlights case studies of individuals in recovery who were aided by medical-legal partnership services, and looks at how existing programs in Ohio, Indiana, and Nevada work. The brief offers a window into how legal services, integrated into existing recovery efforts, can play a role in alleviating the opioid crisis....Read More