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Dear
Colleague:
I am writing to you to
introduce Valley Project Access, a physician driven
initiative to develop and manage a coordinated system for
helping uninsured Valley residents who cannot afford medical
care. A small taskforce of Valley physicians, of which I am
a member, has designed a comprehensive program to coordinate
the charity care that I know many of you are already
providing to your uninsured patients. Valley Project Access
links residents who lack health insurance and have a
household income of less than 200% of the federal poverty
level to high quality primary and specialty services.
These include necessary inpatient, outpatient, ancillary and
diagnostic procedures, affordable prescription drugs, and
available insurance and state assistance programs.
The driving force behind this
coordinated charity care program is the Valley Physician
Alliance for Access to Care and Treatment (V-PAACT). (link
to list of docs) This network of Valley
physicians is comprised of physician volunteers who provide
their services to a designated number of Project Access
patients each year. Since we began recruiting specialists in
2004, sixty-eight physicians have joined. As a result, if
you choose to participate in this program, you will be able
to refer your uninsured patients to this growing specialist
network for free care. Additional clinical partners
include: Hill Health Corporation, and Griffin
Hospital.
In the wake of severe cuts to
health and human service programs in Connecticut, it has
become more critical to find ways of supporting our less
well to do patients. I hope you will join your colleagues in
volunteering to be part of Valley Project Access.
Here are some additional
reasons to support this program:
¨ Patient
services: Griffin Hospital will provide access to care
for Project Access patients who require inpatient,
outpatient, laboratory, x-ray, and other ancillary or
diagnostic services. This reduces the time your
administrative staff would otherwise spend making
arrangements for these services on a case-by-case basis.
¨ Prescription
Assistance: A Prescription Assistance Coordinator helps
Project Access patients find needed medications through free
online manufacturer programs. This helps them get well and
stay well and therefore reduces the number of times you need
to see each patient.
¨ Referral
Services: The Women’s Health Coordination Center helps
Project Access patients access transportation and other
health and human services in the Valley.
¨ Financial
screening: Project Access patients are screened for
income eligibility and state entitlement programs. Each
patient enrolled in Project Access is re-screened every 6
months to determine ongoing eligibility.
¨ Initial
appointment reminder: Project Access patients sign
“contracts” explaining their responsibilities under the
program. Each patient is called prior to his/her first
visit with an appointment reminder, and instructed on the
importance of keeping appointments. Patients will be
discharged from the program for poor compliance.
¨ Centralized
application, referral and enrollment status computer system:
Our centralized tracking system assures that there is an
equitable distribution of consultations among all
participating physicians, and that your pledge for referrals
is not exceeded.
¨ Value
of services tracking: Submitting Project Access patient
bills will allow for tracking of services donated by
volunteer physicians. Demonstrating the combined value of
physician volunteer services will attract necessary funding.
Valley Project Access grew out
of our physician community’s desire to more appropriately
deliver health care to low income uninsured residents. Many
of us are already seeing patients in our offices or on-call
in the hospital emergency room but the efforts often go
unrecognized. If you decide to participate, we can
immediately enroll any uninsured patients you are currently
providing care for, and count that against your commitment
to Project Access. Please consider the benefits to your
practice, our profession, our patients and our community,
and help make this program as effective as possible for all
involved.
I hope you will sign the
attached
letter of agreement
and return to: 67 Maple Avenue, Derby, CT 06418. If
other providers in your practice wish to volunteer, please
have them fill out a separate copy of the contract. Please
call Sue Rosen, Project Access Director, at 203-732-1330 if
you have any questions about this important charity care
program. Our patients and I look forward to your support.
Sincerely,
Domenic W. Casablanca, MD
Physician Volunteer, Valley Project Access
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