News
- Charity Clinic Model Should Be Part of Health Reform
• The Congressional Budget Office last month reported that 36 million Americans would still remain uninsured even if the Senate's $1.6 trillion health care proposal passed. Charitable clinics will take care of many of the remaining uninsured patients.
• According to the National Center for Policy Analysis, the uninsured receive almost $1,500 in health care annually, much of which is delivered at charity clinics.
• Clinics focus on delivering care without getting entangled in government bureaucracy. Charity clinics are sponsored by the private sector, such as churches, medical societies, civic organizations and other community groups.
• Hospitals throughout the country are turning away patients without life-threatening emergencies. Large hospitals, in particular, report overcrowding and long waits in their emergency rooms, forcing them to divert patients. Charitable clinics are a more viable option for non-emergency care because they provide patients a home for ongoing primary care.
- Technical Assistance Workshops
- Help pours in for health clinic for needy – (July 25, 2008)
- Clinic for uninsured expanding program – (July 10, 2008)
- Community health clinic adding old house for new space – (May 29, 2008)
- Free Clinic to Enlarge Mission – (May 13, 2008)
- No Coverage Can Be Deadly – (April 9, 2008)
- Announcement of Intent to Fund - Safety Net/Free Clinics – (April 2008)
- GFCN is Designated February's Champion for Health by the Healthcare Georgia Foundation– (February 2008)
- Free Clinics Take Burden Off Georgia Taxpayers – By Donna Looper, GFCN Executive Director, from Georgia Political Digest (March 10, 2008)
- OUR OPINION: Clinic is a good idea– from The Valdosta Daily Times (Feb. 22, 2008)
- Insurance for the Working Poor - Newt Gingrich– from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Feb. 21, 2008)
- Recommendations for Free-Market Solutions to Insure All Georgians for Healthcare – A Report by the Georgia Uninsured Work Group (Jan. 30, 2008)
- Are You Living Without Health Insurance? – MTV Wants to Hear Your Story (Jan. 9, 2008)
- Charity clinics a lifesaver for uninsured – from USA Today (Dec. 27, 2007)
- Clinics help to relieve number of uninsured Georgians found in ERs – from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Dec. 26, 2007)
- Georgia Free Clinic Network Hires New Executive Director – (Aug. 1, 2007)
- Selected news from GFCN's weekly update – (April 19, 2007)
- GFCN featured in Pfizer's Community Health Advocacy newsletter! – (Feb. 4, 2007)
A note about Pfizer Community Health Advocacy: The mission of Pfizer Community Health Advocacy is to advance areas of common ground with community-based organizations by promoting access, prevention, wellness and adherence to quality healthcare. We serve leaders, volunteers and individuals in communities across the country. For more information, visit www.communityhealthadvocacy.pfizer.com.
July 17, 2009
Commentary
By Ross Mason, President, Board of Directors of the Georgia Free Clinic Network
At charity clinics throughout Georgia, patients with no health insurance or who don't qualify for government programs jam telephone lines to obtain an appointment. If the clinic doesn't take appointments, patients line up at the doors and wait for hours for a chance to see a doctor, nurse or dentist.
In 2008, Georgia's 100-plus charity clinics cared for more than 175,000 patients. This year, some clinics are seeing as much as a 300 percent increase in patients due to the state's record unemployment rate. Still, many get turned away.
Community-based clinics use volunteers to provide care and charge little to nothing for patients who have no other means of accessing health care. Georgia's charity clinics provide between $200 million and $400 million annually in uncompensated care, according to a 2005 state auditor's report. That amount will likely be even greater this year because of the rising number of unemployed.
The federal government needs to recognize the savings to taxpayers resulting from the important and mostly invisible role these clinics play in the American health care delivery system. In 2008, the nation's 1,200 charity clinics served 4 million patients. That's 4 million patients, often without the ability to pay, who didn't use government programs for their health care. These facts should prompt President Obama to give charity clinics a seat at the table to help devise a health care strategy for the 21st Century.
During the 2008 campaign, President Obama highlighted the importance of making preventive medicine more accessible. At charity clinics, there is a significant focus on prevention, especially with diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular disease. Clinics help patients find low-cost generic pharmaceuticals and apply for drug discount cards. Providing this access to affordable medication keeps patients from developing more serious conditions that are far more costly and difficult to treat.
There are many other reasons to support the role of charity clinics:
As one of his first initiatives, the president called for more citizens to participation in community service through the national service corps. Volunteering at a local clinic is a wonderful way for citizens to enhance their communities.
The federal government can support charity clinics by encouraging educational partnerships with medical training facilities, offering block grants to cover administrative costs, creating incentives for drug companies to donate pharmaceuticals and broadening medical malpractice protection for physicians and other volunteer providers.
As the nation's unemployment rate approaches double digits, the uninsured problem is going to become more critical. In many cases, charitable clinics will be the only solution for Americans who have lost their health insurance and can't afford COBRA or another temporary health policy. These newly uninsured often cannot access government programs and depend upon the care of physicians willing to donate their time at charity clinics.
Until we find solutions to get more Americans covered by health insurance, the federal government needs to encourage charity clinics run by the private sector and staffed by physicians, nurses, dentists and other concerned citizens who donate their time and expertise. Charitable clinics are a cost-effective solution that fits into our new President's challenge to return to a spirit of giving
With very generous support from the Healthcare Georgia Foundation, the Georgia Free Clinic Network has begun a technical assistance program for clinics in Georgia. GFCN will lead and coordinate the programming to provide each eligible organization with technical assistance tailored to their individual needs, to improve and strengthen their missions and ultimately provide resources to benefit other clinics in the Network. The program will provide assistance in the areas of sustainability, volunteer recruitment and training, grant writing, board development and program evaluation.
GFCN's Grantsmanship Workshop a Huge Success!
The internationally recognized Grantsmanship Center customized an intensive 3-day workshop for GFCN clinics, to train them to understand a grant makers' guidelines, to use concise, persuasive writing, while requesting reasonable funding. The training program was a comprehensive, hands-on workshop that covered researching funding sources and writing and reviewing real proposals.
The workshop was held in early March at the new Good Samaritan Health Center in Atlanta, and we thank them for allowing us to be the first group to utilize their conference room.
There was no cost to attend the workshop, as funding was provided by GFCN through the technical assistance program supported by the Healthcare Georgia Foundation.
The participants, pictured above, include:
Bola Adesuyi, Cheryl Christian, Karla Daniels, Kacie Dougherty, Wesley Dowdy, Shamae Duncan, Marie Emery, Nedra Fortson, Patrick Gallemore, Roberta Green, Spence Howell, Yotin Srivanjarean, Jacquelyn Kirby, Roshin Kuriah, Charles Moore, Hoyt Oliver, Lisa Page, Renee Ranson, Karen Rose, Ruth Rucker, Thelma T. Scott, Kim Siegelson, Jaime Siens, Marie Tooks, Frank Wilson, and Ken Young
Some of the comments heard about the training:
"It was awesome! Anyone who missed it, missed out on an incredible opportunity."
"I have attended dozens of fundraising training conferences and sessions and this was by far the best!"
"Thanks to GFCN for organizing the training—it rocked!"
Volunteer Recruitment and Retention
As charitable clinics are staffed primarily by volunteers, the recruitment, retention, and management of volunteers is essential to each organization's successful development. The particular problems that arise from recruiting clinicians for the charitable clinic setting are unique and will be highlighted and discussed. A brainstorming session was in last fall, and the discussions resulted in the first draft of a Volunteer Management Guide that will be tested in the clinics over the next year. A final version of the Guide will be dispersed to all the clinics in 2010. Please email GFCN at ed@gfcn.org to request a copy of the Guide for your clinic.
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