Friday, July 14, 2017

Article: A systematic review of MLP’s role in bridging health disparities in patient care

This article is a review of observational studies, published from January 1993-January 2016, to investigate the capacity of medical-legal partnerships to address legal and health disparities. The authors identified 13 articles for qualitative analysis from an initial pool of 355 records, four of which directly addressed the impact of MLP intervention on patient wellbeing and/or patient utilization of health care services....Read More

Saturday, April 1, 2017

Article: Integrating legal services into four VHA medical centers serving veterans with mental illness

This article describes the development and operations of medical-legal partnerships at four Veterans Health Administration medical centers that serve veterans who are homeless or who have serious mental illness. The authors briefly report on the characteristics of 700 veterans served by these MLPs from 2014 to 2016, and discuss how MLPs can fit within the interdisciplinary, comprehensive system of care provided by VHA....Read More

Wednesday, March 1, 2017

Article: Survey examines prevelance of legal needs, screening, and services at homeless service sites

The National Health Care for the Homeless Council conducted a study to examine civil legal needs among people experiencing homelessness and the extent to which medical-legal partnerships exist in homeless service sites. More than 90 percent of the homeless service sites reported that their patients experienced at least one civil legal issue, particularly around housing, employment, health insurance, and disability benefits. However, only half of all sites reported screening patients for civil legal issues, and only 10 percent had a medical-legal partnership....Read More

Wednesday, February 8, 2017

Article: Survey of homeless service sites found high prevelance of civil legal issues among patients

Forty-eight homeless service sites across 26 states were surveyed about their needs, attitudes, and practices related to civil legal issues, including medical-legal partnerships. The survey found that more than 90% of the homeless service sites reported that their patients experienced at least one civil legal issue, particularly around housing, employment, health insurance, and disability benefits. However, only half of all sites reported screening patients for civil legal issues, and only 10 percent had a medical-legal partnership. ...Read More