Project Access NOW eNewsletter: August 2009
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Project Access NOW sets sights high for 2009/2010
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Project Access NOW is a young organization and has enjoyed great
support and success during its first year (plus a few months) of
operations. With the basic program in place, the Board of Directors of
Project Access NOW is moving into its next developmental stage.....yes,
we are growing up!
One of the first tasks accomplished by the new Chair of the Board of
Directors, Mark Rosenberg, MD, was to engage the board in the creation
of Project Access NOW's
first Strategic Plan. The Board of Directors participated in a
Strategic Planning retreat in April with Marc Smiley of Decisions
Decisions. With guidance from Marc and Mark, the board was able to
clarify its role and create some ambitious goals in about a three month
time frame - whew! We have an amazing, committed and hard working board of directors.
Perhaps the most important goal is that Project Access NOW will
double the number of people served by our program this coming year
to at least 3,000. Better yet is the fact that after only one month of
operations this fiscal year, we are solidly on course to reaching that
goal! There is still much to accomplish and more partners to engage in
order to provide sustainable support to the low-income, uninsured. Many people and organizations are involved in doing
what they can to assure that even the most vulnerable among us have
access to basic health care. The Board of Directors of Project Access
NOW is proud to count themselves among those who are intentionally and
passionately making life better for people in our community.
With record high unemployment, confusing debates about health care
reform and way more need than available resources, Project Access NOW
offers some hope and respite from the harsh realities surrounding us.
Despite political and ideological debates, uncertain revenue streams
and apparently ineffective reform efforts, one thing we know: Nearly
1,500 individual human beings received access to needed medical care
that they may not have received with out Project Access NOW and its
partners. People received care in a dignified manner from volunteer
physicians and other health care providers who simply wanted to do the
right thing - Connect People to Health Care. Today.
Linda Nilsen-Solares
Executive Director
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Patient story: Kimberly Hansen
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 During her July 2008 hospital stay, Kimberly Hansen developed calciphylaxis. Her OHSU financial assistance plan for low-income people covered a lot: her primary care at the Outside In clinic as well hospital stays and tests at OHSU. Medication was another story.
The new and unexplained illness caught the former certified nurse assistant and single mother of two off guard. "Just a few months ago I couldn't walk," Kimberly said. "I was in so much pain I thought I was going to die."
It soon became clear to Dr. Tanya Page, Kimberly's primary care physician at Outside In, that Kimberly's prescriptions would be an issue. She referred Kimberly to Project Access NOW and its Pharmacy Bridge program. Project Access now provides for all of Kimberly's specialty medication needs.
Continue reading Kimberly Hanson's story.
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Board member profile: Janet Hamilton
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 Having worked in healthcare information consulting for 20 years, Janet Hamilton was a natural fit for Project Access NOW Board's Operations Committee. As a close partner of the Free Clinic of Southwest Washington, the home of Project Access Clark County, and Janet's employer, Columbia United Providers (CUP), dispatched Janet to help Project Access get off the ground.
"I feel honored and humbled to be a part of such an incredible group of people," Janet said. "I've learned so much from the staff at PANOW and everyone on the Board."
As the Director of Information Services, Janet oversees smooth functioning of systems, processes, and databases at Columbia United Providers, a community-based health plan provider. She brought her expertise to Project Access Clark County and to Project Access NOW.
Read more about Janet Hamilton.
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Thanking Dr. Sandra Wilborn and Northwest Gastroenterology Clinic
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 Dr. Sandy Wilborn has become a Project Access provider the way most
physicians have: through word of mouth and personal relationship. Dr.
Malcolm McAninch, a primary care internist, was an original fellow
member of the Multnomah Specialty Group, and when Project Access NOW started emerging, he invited Dr. Wilborn along.
A
gastroenterologist by specialty, Dr. Wilborn saw the birth of Project
Access as one of its early adopters. She presented the plan to join to
her group of 9 gastroenterologists, all of whom quickly agreed to participate.
 Dr. Wilborn was going to retire this year, but decided to take an extra year to work, after which she plans to take an OHSU crash course for specialists wanting to re-enter general medicine. When she does retire, "I want to do volunteer medical work."
Read more about Dr. Wilborn.
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Project Access NOW Quick Data |
As of July 31, 2009
- Patients enrolled: 1,778
- Referrals made: 1,625 (does not include ancillary services such as anesthesiology, radiology and pathology)
- Referral slots available: 2,850 (some specialties are already maxing out monthly)
- Number of prescriptions filled: 2,075
- Cost per prescription: $17.88
- Patients served by Pharmacy Bridge receiving medication: 407
- Patients connected with Medication Assistance Programs (MAP): 63
- Value of medication received through MAP: $74,778
- Savings on purchased medications: $103,890
- Patient contribution toward medication: $7,695
- Charges for medical services provided: $4,585,000
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Phone: 503.222.6541
Fax: 503.222.2932
Email
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