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Access to Care Task Force
The concept of access to care is defined as “the timely use of health services to achieve the best health outcomes.”
As stated by the Health Policy Institute of Ohio, “Without access to a regular source of care, patients have more difficulties obtaining care, make fewer doctor visits, and have more difficulty accessing prescription drugs.” The initiatives outlined below are priorities for the SHIP in improving access to quality health care for residents of Erie County.
Develop and Implement a Medical Home Model Throughout Erie County
Throughout Erie County – in both rural and urban underserved areas – there is a significant lack of neighborhood health clinics available for medical and dental services.
The SHIP is uniting stakeholders from community agencies across the County to address and correct this problem. During our ongoing research, we have encountered numerous initiatives in place across the country addressing the issue of access to care. The SHIP is committed to examining these best practices and adapting them for implementation in the Erie community. Some of these initiatives are:
- Hospital and faith-based partnerships
- Neighborhood “Medical Homes” with strategic placement throughout urban and rural areas in need
- Investigating the American Academy of Family Physicians’ demonstration project, TransforMED, which address the “medical home” concept
We are currently investigating for future implementation:
- Researching the medical needs of Federally Designated Medically Underserved Areas in our community; specifically, evaluating the medical home model concept for implementation
- Evaluating expansion possibilities for Federally Qualified Health Care Centers in our community (such as Community Health Net) and faith-based clinics; this includes rural clinic implementation
- Evaluation of the patient navigator model for implementation
- Ensuring both provider and consumer education regarding the medical home model concept
Many families throughout Erie County are not receiving appropriate health education materials and are having difficulty navigating the health care and social services systems. Many times, when a crisis occurs, these families don’t know where to turn.
The SHIP is exploring the possibility for a community-wide centralized case management system to reduce health education barriers and access to care issues, helping to ensure that families receive the services they need.
One proposal being researched by the SHIP is creating a team of individuals from a variety of Erie’s health and social services agencies to serve as “Access Points” for families in need of assistance. These “Access Points” would be cross-trained on the offerings of all Erie health and social service entities in order to refer families to the appropriate agency. This approach is unique in that it brings the collective knowledge and resources of all social service agencies offered in the Erie community into one place.
Workforce Diversity
PartnerSHIP for a Healthy Community is also committed to ensuring that the workforce, both current and future, are representative of those consumers who will be receiving services.
We will achieve this through:
- Development of a system for high school and college outreach to identify future health professionals
- Implement cultural competency training and nationally recognized standards, including a review of National Standards for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services in Health Care, March 2001 – U. S. Department of Health and Human Services
- Creation of a network of appropriate translators and interpretation services
- Recruitment of minority medical professionals
The initiatives outlined above are a sampling of what we are working to accomplish in Erie County throughout the next five years. However, we can’t reach our goal of improving access to quality health care without the collaboration of caring individuals throughout our community. If you are interested in becoming involved with the Access to Care Task Force, please contact us.
