Furman joins effort to improve health outcomes in South Carolina
March 5, 2019
The Duke Endowment has awarded a $1.025 million, three-year grant to the University of South Carolina to support a statewide effort to improve patient and population health in South Carolina by eliminating legal barriers that families may face when seeking medical care.
Furman University will be involved in the effort through the work of its Institute for the Advancement of Community Health.
With funding from the grant, UofSC’s Carolina Health Advocacy Medicolegal PartnerShip (CHAMPS) and the Greenville Medical-Legal Partnership (GMLP) will join forces to create The South Carolina MLP Collaborative.
Greenville’s MLP, created in 2016, formally connects Furman, Prisma Health and South Carolina Legal Services in their work to improve health outcomes for people living in poverty throughout the Upstate.
Although many social aspects that influence health are guaranteed by law, patients often face financial, communication and other challenges when they require legal assistance to navigate the health care system. Medical-legal partnerships pair doctors with lawyers who provide free legal help for matters such as improving access to government-provided benefits, resolving guardianship issues and working with landlords to improve living conditions, with a goal of increasing positive health outcomes.
One objective of the South Carolina MLP Collaborative is to show that MLPs can lower health care costs and reduce health disparities. Evaluation through data analysis will be facilitated by Furman’s Institute for the Advancement of Community Health in coordination with UofSC. A steering committee will determine specific areas for evaluation such as analysis of cost effectiveness, care coordination, patient satisfaction and legal outcomes.
CHAMPS gives law, medical and graduate-level social work students at UofSC the opportunity to work as part of the medical team on legal and social issues affecting children’s health.
The MLP process starts at the doctor’s office, where medical screening traditionally has been done, but now there are new questions in the mix about income, housing and other issues that help identify legal barriers families may be facing.
The idea of pairing doctors and lawyers to assist patients is not new. However, “medical-legal partnership” as a term and growth concept originated in the mid-1990s at Boston Medical Center. There are 333 MLPs in 46 states. The South Carolina MLP Collaborative will serve as a model for MLPs in neighboring states and across the nation.
Last year, MLPs helped more than 75,000 patients nationally resolve legal issues that were impeding their health. Since 2017, CHAMPS has worked with 140 cases involving children and their families. GMLP has assisted with 209 cases since its launch in 2016.
CHAMPS has a strong educational focus, giving law, medical and graduate-level social work students at UofSC the opportunity to work as part of the medical team on legal and social issues affecting children’s health. The GMLP is more focused on providing legal services and serves geriatric patients in addition to children.
