Newsroom
2010 Cover the Uninsured Week in Portland/Vancouver metro area
Celebrations of this year’s Cover the Uninsured Week took place in the Portland Metro area during the week of April 12th – 18th. Project Access NOW was happy to be in full support of OHSU Health Policy Group, which had been coordinating the Week’s awareness and service activities since 2008. The Group’s “campus-wide effort rallies not only medical students but also PA, nursing, dental, and pharmacy students, as well as OHSU faculty and community organizations.”
Cover the Uninsured Week is a national program that focuses on education and services for the millions of uninsured individuals across the country. According to the Group, the weekday events occurring Monday through Friday (4/12-4/16) featured a variety of educational speakers, discussions, workshops, and activities related to topics of uninsured healthcare.
Our very own Mike Bonazzola and Linda Nilsen-Solares gave a talk on Monday, April 12th at 1pm at OHSU Old Library Auditorium.
- Full schedule of events.
- Article about the Cover the Uninsured Week activities from the OHSU student paper Pulse (courtesy of Ashley Tran at OHSU).
- Video by TheVacuum.org (Voices and Concerns of the Uninsured and Underinsured Millions), “a group of first-year medical students [at OHSU] who are interested in finding the stories of those who are uninsured and those providers who care for them, despite all obstacles”.
(April 2010)
Clackamas County Project Access launches, enrolls patients
Clackamas County Project Access is a late bloomer, but what a bloom it has been! Since its launch in December 2009, Clackamas County Project Access has enrolled 20 patients (3 in December, 17 in January). According to program manager Katie Ulin, “We’re on a roll!”
Clackamas County saw a lot of community need from the outset. The regional system allowed for patients from there to be seen in other Portland metropolitan area counties. “Now we have the ability to care for Clackamas County patients closer to home,” Katie said.
Katie confirmed that recruitment is going well, too. “A lot of partners, such as hospitals or health systems, had already been working with us in other counties. Physicians were signed up through each system and several private practice clinics have locations in Clackamas County. With this program we can finally make use of their volunteer contributions where their patients live.”
(February 2010)
Meyer Memorial Trust helps expand care coordination
We look to technology as one of the ways to improve efficiencies. We are, therefore, proud and honored to announce that the Meyer Memorial Trust has awarded Project Access NOW a grant of $115,000 over 2 years for the expansion of care coordination services.
In particular, the grant will help develop and install case management software. The new database will allow us to serve more patients better and without adding staff. We’ll also be able to increase detail and frequency of reports, establish our capacity to share data with other organizations, and allow application to other social service programs.
We look forward to reporting on our progress!
(January 2010)
New challenges, new project, new employee
Portland, Oregon, 1/8/2010 — The H1N1 flu has prompted an expansion of our services: a regionwide pilot program will increase referrals for primary care for the low-income uninsured seeking help with the flu. The program will direct H1N1 hotline callers to other care they may need, especially basic primary care. Because the low-income uninsured tend to forgo care due to the lack of resources, the idea is to refer the eligible ones from the flu hotline to Project Access NOW.
The latest addition to the Project Access NOW team Britt Howe will manage the regional care coordination pilot, which will be fully operational in January 2010. Britt hails from Connecticut and Colorado College; she brings to Project Access NOW her experience working with a Denver-area consumer health nonprofit helping the low-income uninsured get access to affordable health care.
Britt enjoys being a part of Project Access NOW: “I’m impressed by the organization’s ability to get the volunteers and community involved, and leveraging existing resources to get people care they wouldn’t be able to get otherwise. I’m excited to see the project in action.”
(January 2010)
Announcing collaboration with Lionheart Consulting
Caring for the uninsured is important work that is near and dear to our hearts. The need is growing and we have a vision of expanding access to health care quickly and sustainably. Our volunteer and partner community is the life-force of Project Access NOW. And our future depends upon your effectiveness – and our gratitude for your effectiveness.
To thank and enrich our community of fabulous volunteers we offered a series of mini-workshops that will help us expand our contribution. For those unable to participate in these workshops, you can purchase the self study curriculum called “Mastering Effectiveness”. Purchase of the curriculum includes quarterly coaching phone conferences. Lionheart Consulting will also be donating 51% of sales of their sales coming from our website. Visit LionHeart to learn about their communication and leadership development programs.
(November 2009)
Oregon Community Foundation renews support for the uninsured
Portland, Oregon, 6/11/2009 — The Oregon Community Foundation (OCF) has renewed its support to Project Access NOW. The second year grant of $25,000 will help improve the infrastructure for our volunteer network.
The mission of The Oregon Community Foundation is to improve life in Oregon and promote effective philanthropy. The grant will be used to recruit non-medical volunteers who will assist with transportation, interpretation, and measurement of program outcomes. According to Jeff Anderson, OCF Senior Program Officer, “Project Access NOW’s volunteer network of over 2,000 physicians is exemplary of a community mobilizing to meet a critical need. We’re impressed with the thoughtful development of Project Access NOW.”
Health safety net in Portland area faces surging demand, The Oregonian
by Joe Rojas-Burke
There’s no good time to get a diagnosis of skin cancer.
Mark Sutherby was out of work and uninsured when he found out he had basal cell carcinoma requiring extensive facial surgery.
He’d put off seeing a doctor for months, expecting to qualify for health insurance at his new job as a security guard. But before coverage began, the job was gone.
Continue reading or download as pdf.
(April 25, 2009)
2009 Open House
Thank you so much to everyone who joined us on Tuesday, April 14, 2009 for our first Open House. We honored Dr. Judge Hicks for his long service and expressed gratitude to all those who helped Project Access get off the ground and through the first year.
We had more than 80 people stop by representing a nice mix of folks, from physicians, to hospital executives, to our safety net partners, to community volunteers, to patients and to friends.
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More photos from the 2009 Open House.
2009 Cover the Uninsured Week, March 22-28
As Project Access NOW enters the 2nd year of operation, we will be highlighting the need for reforming the health care system by joining the national Cover the Uninsured Week.
CoverTheUninsured.org is a project of The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Visit Oregon’s profile on CoverTheUninsured.org
Pharmacy Bridge Update
Pharmacy Bridge has become a crucial component of the success of Project Access NOW. In providing this pharmacy benefits management program, Project Access NOW is fortunate to partner with Providence Health Plans and the Coalition of Community Health Clinics.
Helen Noonan-Harnsberger, Pharmacy Manager of Providence Health Plans, took early leadership of our efforts to create access to pharmaceuticals for Project Access NOW patients. Her personal passion for our mission and her professional knowledge were instrumental in creating the vision of Pharmacy Bridge. Helen and her staff (most significantly Kyle McGinnis) worked with Project Access NOW and the Coalition of Community Health Clinics to create a system in which low-income, uninsured patients have much more access and fewer barriers to the medications they need. In addition to being easy to use, Pharmacy Bridge allows us to be excellent stewards of our resources by providing data and mechanisms that we can use to keep our costs down to ensure we are able to serve as many people as possible.
Project Access patients can go to any pharmacy with a prescription from a volunteer physician and get basic medications from a formulary list for a $4 copay, much like patients who have health insurance. Project Access NOW covers the remaining cost. Each patient has a limit on how much Project Access NOW spends on medication. The program makes it easy for physicians to prescribe medications and for patients to fill their prescriptions. It’s affordable for both patients and Project Access NOW.
If a medication is not on the formulary, Pharmacy Resource Specialist Margaret Lamb, the newest addition to the Project Access NOW team, works with patients to apply for pharmaceutical assistance programs and helps them access other resources. Margaret works with volunteer pharmacists to help her determine what is best for each patient. Pharmacy Bridge offers to pharmacists what Project Access NOW offers to physicians – an opportunity to volunteer in an organized system that makes a difference in the lives of people in our community.
In these times of economic hardship, we anticipate more and more people will be in need of this program. We’re working with our partner organizations to expand this significant low-cost medications resource for the low-income uninsured patients. Washington County’s Essential Health Clinic will join Pharmacy Bridge soon. Many thanks to Helen, Kyle and all of the folks at Providence Health Plan for all of their work. We also invite pharmacists from across the region to contact us to see about volunteering to serve low-income, uninsured patients in our community.
Organizing charity care, The Chronicle of Philanthropy
Organizing charity care: Donations of products and services help a new Oregon group aid the uninsured
by Alison Stein Wellner
In the Portland, Ore., metropolitan area, the challenge was clear: More than 300,000 people lacked health insurance, a number only likely to climb, given a weakening economy and national trends. Such uninsured people usually end up relying on charity care — physicians and hospitals that provide hundreds of millions of dollars in services at no charge. Continue reading or download as pdf.
(September 18, 2008)
Success stories: Expanding access to basic health care, United Way of the Columbia-Willamette
A local coalition of health care leaders, community clinics, and service-oriented organizations are working together to make basic health care accessible to low-income, uninsured individuals, families and children. Continue reading.
(August 7, 2008)
