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July 2009
Linn County Project Access
First-year goal exceeded for health care provider enrollment
Call (319) 892-6083 or email info@linncountyprojectaccess.com
www.linncountyprojectaccess.com
Linn County Project Access exceeds first-year participation goal
Linn County Project Access surpassed its first-year goal of having 50 percent of the county’s specialty care providers enrolled by the end of June 2009:
· 123 health care providers
· $116,156 in donated health care services
· 50 active patients
Planning for the future of Linn County Project Access is an ongoing process. To learn what next steps are needed, for two days in early June, Amanda Warner and two Linn County Project Access Advisory Board members visited the Sedgwick County, Kansas Project Access in Wichita.
“We just wanted to see what the next steps would be now that we have the program up and running,” Warner said. “They confirmed we’re on the right track to being successful.”
Staff in Wichita told the Linn County group that growing pains are normal, even for a Project Access that has been up and running for about 10 years, she said.
“We’re doing exactly what needs to be done. Although our community is a little different than theirs,” Warner said.
Each community is unique in recruiting physician to participate Project Access, but the general rule is that most communities are able to recruit about 20 percent to 40 percent of their physicians in the first year, said Monica Flask, director of programs for Central Plains Regional Health Care Foundation in Wichita.
There, Project Access is a project of the Central Plains Regional Health Care Foundation in partnership with the Medical Society of Sedgwick County. The goal of that community-based, physician-led initiative is to expand access to medical services for low-income, uninsured residents of Sedgwick County, Kansas.
“Linn County’s Project Access program has been especially successful in its first-year recruitment efforts. In this short time frame, recruitment of specialists has already exceeded the much higher 50 percent goal,” Flask said. “The Wichita Project Access community offers sincere congratulations on the physician leadership shown in Cedar Rapids, which is well on its way to being a very successful Project Access site.”
For more information about Project Access in Wichita, visit www.projectaccess.net.
Marion patient receives treatment and hearing aids
Caleb Staley has been slowly losing his hearing since he was 6. Every time he has an ear infection, he loses a little bit more of his hearing. The last three years have been the worst.
For a month and a half this winter, he was deaf because he couldn’t afford to go to the doctor. “I didn’t know how I was going to pay him,” Staley said. “It seems as soon as I get one bill paid I get another one and start all over again. I end up with two bills at the same time.” 
Paychecks go to pay off medical bills that pile up because he doesn’t have insurance. But he can’t find a good job because of his hearing loss. The jobs he can get don’t offer health insurance. And without insurance, he can’t afford hearing aids that will allow him to get a better job.
The situation seemed hopeless until Linn County Project Access connected Staley with the health care and hearing aids that he needs.
“The whole experience with the doctors providing their services and everything really opened, for me, a lot of doors,” Staley said.
Staley, 34, of Marion, had to move back in with his parents so that he could afford to pay the medical bills that never seem to go away.
“I’ve had tubes 19 times,” he said, adding that he’s had tubes put in six times in the past three years. His body has started to reject the tubes faster than ever.
It costs about $800 every time he has to go in for new ear tubes. Although he tried to make regular payments, by the time he had a raging ear infection in February, he owed about $2,500 to his regular doctor.
After the debt was sent to collections, Staley wasn’t even sure the doctor would see him. Fortunately, his regular doctor’s nurse told him about Linn County Project Access and urged him to apply.
Based on his income and lack of insurance, Staley did qualify as a Project Access patient. His regular doctor was on the list, and through Project Access the doctor donated the initial cost of having new tubes put in and for two follow up visits. That saved Staley more than $1,000 in health care costs.
Health care providers are not reimbursed for the health care they provide to Project Access patients. Each enrolled health care provider pledges to see a certain number of Project Access patients during the year. Project Access staff track the donated care and better ensure that donated care is more equitably contributed.
“This is a life changing thing for me,” Staley said. “I can actually use my education and get a decent job … The biggest thing is I can get out on my won and take care of myself and I don’t have to depend on (my parents).”
(Read more)
Health care providers: Your community needs you
In addition to helping uninsured people, Project Access aids health care providers who want to volunteer their time and services to people who do not have access to quality health care because of their financial situation. Participating health care providers demonstrate their commitment to the ideals of the medical profession by donating care through Project Access either in their office or through community health centers and free health clinics.
Primary care and specialty care physicians; nurse practitioners and physician assistants are all encouraged to enroll in Project Access.
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Would you like to refer a patient to Project Access?
When health care providers enroll in Project Access, they may refer patients already being treated for free for patient enrollment in Project Access. If those patients qualify for Project Access, the enrolled health care provider will credit toward their pledge.
To be eligible for Project Access, a patient must be reside in Linn County, be uninsured and have an income that is at or below 200% of federal poverty level. They must complete the Linn County Project Access Financial Statement Application, Linn County Project Access Enrollment Application. In addition, they must complete an Iowa Care application to be recommended for other available programs for which they may be eligible.
Please contact our staff at (319) 892-6083 for more information about patient referrals. To download the Patient Referral Form, click here or visit http://www.linncountyprojectaccess.com/For_Physicians.html.
Linn County Project Access
501 13th St NW Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52405
Call: (319) 892-6083
Email:info@linncountyprojectaccess.com
www.linncountyprojectaccess.com
