What Is a Project Access System of Care?
Project Access started in Buncombe County (Asheville, NC) in 1996. The physicians of the Buncombe County Medical Society realized the need for access to the full continuum of care for all low-income, uninsured residents of the community. While physicians were already seeing patients for free in their practices or on-call in the hospital emergency room, the hassle and heartache in trying to obtain specialty procedures and medications was an obstacle that was both unnecessary and impeding to their patients health.
Using the public commitment of our physicians to treat every low-income, uninsured resident was a leveraging tool to obtain commitments from others in the community: Our hospital system for inpatient and outpatient services, lab work and x-rays; our community-based clinics, to increase the capacity of primary care homes; pharmacies, to give consultations and low-cost medications; and our local government, to provide funding for operational overhead and the much-needed medications.
Project Access Results in a Healthier Community
In return for these commitments, our hospital system has seen a dramatic reduction in ER utilization among this population and a huge savings in charity dollars. The community health centers have doubled their capacity -- patients require fewer visits to clinics because they now have access to specialists and medications, and thus have improved their health. And the uninsured patient population reports better health than our insured population!
By creating a seamless system, our physicians have reduced the number of hours spend on charity care. All of the cost savings and health benefits can be traced back to the commitment and the compassion of these doctors and community partners, and their concern for those who cannot afford insurance.
Any Community Can Benefit From Project Access
The lessons we have learned through creating the Project Access system of care have taught us all that, while every community is unique, there are universal principles of a coordinated charity system that can be applied to any community, large or small. Because of this, dozens of have sought out the help of the Physicians' Innovation Network to create a program that adapts and adopts the principles of Project Access to best fit their communities' needs.
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