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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Bart Perkey, MSW, Elliott Garrett, MSW, Celia Larson, PhD, Doc Hooks, BS, Karen Grimm, MA, and Lori Meyer. Bureau of Community Assessment and Health Promotion, Metropolitan Nashville Health Department, 311 23rd Avenue North, Nashville, TN 37203, 615-340-5655, Bart_Perkey@mhd.nashville.org
Uninsured persons in the United States suffer disproportionately from disease and disability. A nationally-funded initiative known as Community Access Program has designated several communities to implement demonstration projects to increase access to medical care for uninsured persons. In Nashville, TN the initiative, “Bridges to Care,” (BTC) is underway to address barriers in health care access by developing a system that will provide and assure a “medical home” for persons who do not have health insurance. The Nashville initiative, lead by the Metropolitan Health Department, has developed a community-wide coalition among safety net providers, including neighborhood clinics, and hospital emergency departments. The collaborative designed BTC to achieve the following: 1) enroll uninsured persons into TennCare (if qualified) or BTC; 2) if enrolled into BTC, assign a medical home (safety net provider); 3) develop a web-based enrollment system to document and track enrollees over time; 4) provide transportation services to BTC enrollees; 5) provide prescription medications for enrollees; 6) provide services and information utilizing culturally appropriate communication methods. This paper describes the methods and resources required for developing and evaluating a comprehensive system of care for uninsured persons. A description of the use of data that defines need (e.g. evaluation of emergency departments’ administrative data and information gathered from community-wide surveys) will be incorporated. The information presented will utilize a logic model framework that depicts the development, implementation, and evaluation of the program.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Access to Care, Underserved Populations
Related Web page: https://bridgestocare.nashville.gov
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.