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Hospital program brings lawyers to low-income patients

Case Management Weekly, April 23, 2008

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More than 80 hospitals across the country have begun working with lawyers to help low-income patients deal with circumstances that cause their poor health.

These medical-legal partnerships, like the one for children at Boston Medical Center, help patients who, for example, have landlords that don’t provide healthy living conditions and need an extra incentive to do so. The lawyers intervene on behalf of the patient, urging the landlord to improve the living conditions that cause illness and, if need be, threatening to take him or her to court. At this point, it is generally less expensive for the landlord to make the housing improvements.

The program saves the hospital money because often the conditions that bring disadvantaged children back to the ED are preventable. The lawyers also add value by helping the hospitals fight for some insurance reimbursements.

Source: American Public Media Marketplace

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