Project Access NOW eNewsletter: August 2008
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by Linda Nilsen-Solares, Project Access NOW
Project Access NOW started officially connecting patients to health
care in March of 2008 in Clark and Multnomah counties and in April in
Washington County. As with any start up program, we have had our fair
share of glitches! Thanks to incredibly dedicated staff on the local
level, 139 patients were officially enrolled in Project Access NOW by
July 31st, 2008. Over 300 patients have been referred to Project Access
NOW since March. Some do not qualify and, sadly, some simply can not
be helped by the current resources being coordinated by Project Access
NOW. Many patients are in the middle of the enrollment process and
will complete their enrollment in the weeks to come. The number of patients enrolled is rising
quickly:
- in March 2008, 4 patients enrolled in the program throughout the metro region
- April: 32
- May: 37
- June: 32
- July: 34
for a grand total of 139 patients connected to health care through Project Access NOW thus far (11 in Clark, 76 in Multnomah, and 52 in Washington Counties).
We NEED more physician volunteers!
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In improving access to health care in
the Portland metropolitan area, Project Access NOW combines regional
efficiencies of its infrastructure services with local insight of
independent, county-specific partners. Bringing four counties from two
states, regional and local stakeholders together in a collaborative
effort is not an easy thing to do. Many organizations talk a great
deal about collaboration - but to actually pool resources and
collective destinies is challenging and courageous. While we have
plenty of room to work on our collaborative effort, we are finding
tangible ways to create a collaborative culture in our organization.
One of those ways is through funding efforts.
As
Project Access NOW requests grant funds from partners
and private foundations to support the
regional infrastructure of this effort, it also seeks funding to
support local programs. Local programs use this funding
to achieve positive health outcomes for patients by connecting
them to care by making referrals to the
appropriate volunteers, facilitating the transfer of chart notes and
clinical information, providing appointment reminders, scheduling
interpreters and addressing other barriers that patients may
encounter.
In the
current fiscal year, local partners in Clark, Multnomah, and
Washington Counties will each receive $45,000 through Project
Access NOW from these funders:
- PacificSource Charitable Foundation;
-
United Way of Columbia Willamette; and
-
Northwest Health Foundation (see below
for a separate article).
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| Volunteer spotlight: Dr. Aly Rahimtoola |
Dr.
Aly Rahimtoola is well known and respected
among his colleagues. Through his
willingness to provide leadership and talk to his colleagues, he
has become a textbook volunteer and recruiter for Project Access
NOW. A busy cardiologist (and new father), he
has responded to Project Access NOW's call to
action to recruit fellow cardiologists to join him and
participate in providing care to those in need
through this organized network of physician volunteers. Most
regional cardiology physician groups are now participating or in
the process of signing up thanks to Dr. Rahimtoola's leadership.
"It really wasn't that hard," Dr.
Rahimtoola said. "It took some persistence, but these are good docs who
are already providing great service to the community. Project Access
NOW actually helps by giving us some structure and additional
resources."
Dr.
Rahimtoola's efforts also led to the first official endorsement of
Project Access NOW by a physician association - the Oregon
Chapter of the American College of Cardiology (ACC). "Dr.
Aly Rahimtoola is one of our superstars," said Mike Widmer, MD, Governor of the Oregon Chapter of the ACC. "It was Dr. Rahimtoola's
commitment to providing care for the uninsured that led him to share
this opportunity with his colleagues."
Dr. Rahimtoola,
thank you for your commitment and dedication to helping the
low-income uninsured get the care they need. Today.
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American College of Cardiology endorses Project Access NOW |
It
is a sincere honor to be endorsed by the Oregon Chapter of the
American College of Cardiology (ACC). As mentioned in the
previous article, Dr. Aly Rahimtoola's leadership among his fellow
cardiologists has led to the increased participation of cardiology
groups and also led to the official endorsement of Project Access NOW
by the ACC.
Statement
of Endorsement: "The
Oregon Chapter of the American College of Cardiology
(ACC)
endorses the activities and goals of Project Access NOW, as
both organizations share a common commitment to facilitating
patient access to specialty care. The Oregon Chapter of the ACC
encourages its members to participate in Project Access NOW by
providing care to low-income, uninsured patients and exhibiting
leadership in their physician community."
"Project Access NOW fits perfectly
with the goal of the ACC of facilitating access to specialty care"
said Mike Widmer, MD, Governor of the Oregon Chapter of the ACC. "We are
very pleased to support this effort and to help spread the word about
ways that physicians can provide leadership and service to those in
need in our community."
We hope that the endorsement of the ACC
is the first of many. At the heart of the Project Access model is
the importance of physician leadership. Physicians are volunteering
their time, skill and energy already. It only makes sense to work
with Project Access NOW to create a coordinated and supported
volunteer physician network. If your professional organization is
interested in endorsing Project Access NOW, please contact Linda at linda@projectaccessnow.org
or 503.222.6541.
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Northwest Health Foundation helps improve access to care |
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The Northwest Health Foundation
has partnered with Project Access NOW to improve health care access
to the qualified uninsured in the region with a coordinated
network of volunteer physicians
and other health care providers.
The $75,000
grant from the Foundation's Access to Health Care program will
boost the collaborative infrastructure that takes already existing
resources and increases their effectiveness and capacity.
Project
Access NOW started accepting patients in March
2008. The grant will help provide 2,000
individuals with access to coordinated medically necessary volunteer health care.
Elaborating
on the grant award, Chris DeMars, Program
Officer with the Northwest Health Foundation, said, "The
Project Access NOW model is innovative and cost-effective, and helps
patients address barriers to care that exist in the current health
care system. The Project Access NOW project partners' commitment to
effective collaboration is impressive. While the project focuses on
providing direct services,
it also aims to build the relationships necessary to implement health
reform in the future."
"Research
shows that lack of coverage decreases access to timely, affordable
and appropriate medical care. An uninsured
person is almost four times more likely to delay seeking care, often
resulting in the need for more acute, more expensive treatment,"
says Project Access NOW Executive Director Linda Nilsen-Solares. "We
believe that we have tremendous resources already available to us and
that we can do more by working together than working independently."
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Project Access NOW as United Way's success story
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 United Way of the Columbia-Willamette recently published
a story about Project Access NOW on its website. Read the article "Expanding Access to Basic Healthcare".
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Update from Project Access Washington County
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by Katie Ulin, Project Access Washington County
Project
Access Washington
County (PAWC) is pleased
to report successfully processing over 120 referrals in the first 4 months of
operation. PAWC has now enrolled over 50
patients into our local program. Patients
have been referred to both primary and specialty care for the monitoring of
chronic conditions such as diabetes and asthma and for specialty care needs
such as hernia repair.
As a program of the Essential Health Clinic, PAWC has
counted on the strong support of our community partners to help expand the
network of physicians donating care to low-income, uninsured individuals in the
Washington County community. Referrals to PAWC are now being coordinated
through the Essential Health Clinic locations in Hillsboro and Tigard and
through the Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center's Cornelius Clinic. PAWC plans to expand enrollment opportunities
throughout the Virginia Garcia network over the course of our first year. As our network of participating physicians
grows, so will our capacity to serve.
PAWC's partnership with Project Access NOW has allowed us to
offer medication assistance to our enrolled patients through the Pharmacy Bridge program, easing the burden of
paying for expensive medications for many of our clients. Patients receive generic prescriptions
included on the Pharmacy
Bridge formulary for
$4. With the help of the new Project
Access NOW Pharmacy Bridge Specialist, a number of patients with specific
medication needs not covered by Pharmacy Bridge have been transitioned on to
Pharmacy Assistance Programs, run by the pharmaceutical companies. PAWC celebrates this specific partnership with
Project Access NOW, which has made a tremendous difference to our patients in
only a few short months.
Looking ahead, with the support of our community partners in
Washington County, PAWC anticipates serving over
500 patients in our first full year of operation. We look forward to sharing our success with
the regional Project Access community.
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Phone: 503.222.6541
Fax: 503.222.2932
Email
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