PIN News
Interview with Raymond T. Foley, M.D., of RGAL, about Project ACCESS. Listen
Collier County Med Society launches countywide discount pharmacy card View
Medical Society helps uninsured Jackson County residents get vital medical care.
Kellogg Foundation Report recommends seed funding and other supports for volunteer care initiatives. View (5Mb)
About PIN
Physicians' Innovation Network (PIN) exists to assist communities across the nation with establishing and sustaining coordinated systems of charity care based on the Project Access model developed in Asheville/Buncombe County, NC and adapted in communities nationwide.
"PIN has taken us to a new level in terms of internal organization, national and state contacts, operational ability, and energy. There would not be a Spokane County Medical Society Project Access without you."
-Samuel Selinger, MD
Spokane, Washington
About PIN
Physicians' Innovation Network (PIN) is a national, nonprofit organization serving communities that utilize the Project Access system to coordinate physician charity care for low-income, uninsured people. Project Access provides an effective means to enhance access to care and improve the health of this population.
PIN uses the Buncombe County Medical Society Project Access charity healthcare model developed in Asheville, NC–and others that have been replicated from it–to help guide communities through their own transformational processes. More than 50 communities, with populations ranging in size from 22,000 to over 1 million have successfully adopted the Project Access model to their unique circumstances. Dozens more are actively working to implement the coordinated charity care system.
An Award-Winning Model
Since 1996, Asheville’s physicians and hospitals have provided more than $30 million of documented free care through BCMS Project Access. The Project Access system has received numerous state and national awards, including the Harvard University/Ford Foundation Innovations in American Government Award, the National Association of Counties Caring Award and the American Society of Association Executives Summit Award.
The BCMS Project Access model of care has proven to be effective. After five years of operation, research showed that the uninsured in the community were more likely to report being in good or excellent health than the insured. In addition, the cost of charity care provided by hospitals had declined significantly, and the uninsured were less likely to use the emergency room than the insured.
How PIN Helps Communities
Physicians' Innovation Network offers a full range of services for communities. Among other things, PIN can show your community how to:
- Engage your physicians to create an integrated care system for low-income, uninsured
- Secure critical partners in your community by surfacing and validating expected return-on-investment
- Communicate your message to build community support
- Evaluate your system’s performance and impact on community health
- Conduct pacing/milestone events to create and maintain momentum and build political will
- Utilize your community's existing healthcare resources
- Collect, manage, and utilize system information
- Build the infrastructure for a Project Access system
- This is just a sample of the many ways PIN can help your community.