Improving Patient Care: Expansion of Access to Free Clinics
Free clinics provide free or reduced-fee healthcare services for uninsured, underserved, and marginalized populations. Free clinics may be the only source of primary care for socioeconomically disadvantaged individuals lacking health insurance. However, consistently understaffed and underfunded free...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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The Beryl Institute
2024-08-01
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| Series: | Patient Experience Journal |
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| Online Access: | https://pxjournal.org/journal/vol11/iss2/14 |
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| _version_ | 1841554100658896896 |
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| author | Anahis Davidian Gail Bloom |
| author_facet | Anahis Davidian Gail Bloom |
| author_sort | Anahis Davidian |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Free clinics provide free or reduced-fee healthcare services for uninsured, underserved, and marginalized populations. Free clinics may be the only source of primary care for socioeconomically disadvantaged individuals lacking health insurance. However, consistently understaffed and underfunded free clinics are struggling to meet growing needs. The demand for services results in long waitlists with long wait times. Most free clinics rely on volunteer providers and staff due to limited financial resources. This case study proposes recommendations that can address the challenges of funding limitations while improving free clinics' ability to offer more accessible and equitable care to serve a greater proportion of people seeking health care. Suggested solutions include improving clinical workflow efficiency, coordinating patient referral networks, and allocating greater safety net funding from federal and local governments. In addition, incentivizing healthcare profession students to engage with free clinics within their communities would increase the number of available providers for assisting with the work of free clinics. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-5e2c124962614525ab014643c7810ed2 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2372-0247 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-08-01 |
| publisher | The Beryl Institute |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Patient Experience Journal |
| spelling | doaj-art-5e2c124962614525ab014643c7810ed22025-01-08T20:18:39ZengThe Beryl InstitutePatient Experience Journal2372-02472024-08-0111210.35680/2372-0247.1887Improving Patient Care: Expansion of Access to Free ClinicsAnahis DavidianGail BloomFree clinics provide free or reduced-fee healthcare services for uninsured, underserved, and marginalized populations. Free clinics may be the only source of primary care for socioeconomically disadvantaged individuals lacking health insurance. However, consistently understaffed and underfunded free clinics are struggling to meet growing needs. The demand for services results in long waitlists with long wait times. Most free clinics rely on volunteer providers and staff due to limited financial resources. This case study proposes recommendations that can address the challenges of funding limitations while improving free clinics' ability to offer more accessible and equitable care to serve a greater proportion of people seeking health care. Suggested solutions include improving clinical workflow efficiency, coordinating patient referral networks, and allocating greater safety net funding from federal and local governments. In addition, incentivizing healthcare profession students to engage with free clinics within their communities would increase the number of available providers for assisting with the work of free clinics.https://pxjournal.org/journal/vol11/iss2/14free clinicuninsured and underserved populationshealthcare waitlistsequitable healthcareaccess to carehealth disparitieshealthcare barriers |
| spellingShingle | Anahis Davidian Gail Bloom Improving Patient Care: Expansion of Access to Free Clinics Patient Experience Journal free clinic uninsured and underserved populations healthcare waitlists equitable healthcare access to care health disparities healthcare barriers |
| title | Improving Patient Care: Expansion of Access to Free Clinics |
| title_full | Improving Patient Care: Expansion of Access to Free Clinics |
| title_fullStr | Improving Patient Care: Expansion of Access to Free Clinics |
| title_full_unstemmed | Improving Patient Care: Expansion of Access to Free Clinics |
| title_short | Improving Patient Care: Expansion of Access to Free Clinics |
| title_sort | improving patient care expansion of access to free clinics |
| topic | free clinic uninsured and underserved populations healthcare waitlists equitable healthcare access to care health disparities healthcare barriers |
| url | https://pxjournal.org/journal/vol11/iss2/14 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT anahisdavidian improvingpatientcareexpansionofaccesstofreeclinics AT gailbloom improvingpatientcareexpansionofaccesstofreeclinics |