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Lawter Law, a firm based out of Oklahoma who specializes in a wide variety of legal issues. Matt enjoys writing about health care topics related to the legal field. ">Oklahoma County working toward better diagnostic care for uninsured residents In January, 2013, local health officials in Oklahoma County announced the Oklahoma County Community Health Network's creation. This system is working to connect the existing free clinics of this County with the region's hospitals. This should result in a more organized,and coordinated care system for patients of these clinics. There are many obstacles to be faced by many of the uninsured residents of this county when it comes to getting premium care. This is one issue that is being addressed via the newly organized medical network. This is seen as a great opportunity to provide care to those who are under served by private sector clinics, mainly poor or lower-income residents. Volunteer efforts along with the project's great intentions makes this a worthwhile project that utilizes resources well along with the positive energy of all the people involved. Great Diagnostic Care for Everyone: Medical experts, along with local leaders, believe that the newly created Community Health system will serve those who are uninsured by enabling them to access a much better level of care than what is normally provided to this group. During 2012, members of this new Health commission worked valiantly to produce a comprehensive master plan of exactly how this network will work. Group members came together to come up with a strategy of costs and long-term goals, as well as itemizing those issues that needed to be addressed currently and long term. The population of this county is about 732,000. About 139,000 are uninsured with 90,500 of this particular group being uninsured. According to the figures produced by the commission, many households have incomes that fall at or below 200% of the federal poverty level. The commission thinks that this county has more faith-based or community resources for medical care per square mile than any other county, area, or major metropolitan region in the United States. This shows that there is a bigger safety net here than anywhere else in our country. However, there is a huge deficit when these low-income, charitable clinics have patients try to access a large area of specialty services. This means that as far as medical care goes, uninsured persons get less specialized care than insured people do according to the commission. Better Communication-Better Efficiency: According to Pam Cross, the executive director of the Health Alliance for the Uninsured, there are plans to coordinate services for patients who need access to these charitable or low-income clinics and to ensure that these services are provided as quickly as possible. She along with other officials emphasize "timeliness" when dealing with this issue in a much more intelligent way than is utilized now. For example, if someone goes to an ER several times for a gallbladder attack, it would be sensible to arrange for that person to have their gallbladder removed to reduce the need for further ER visits and all the associated expenses of those. This also lets the person get on with their life and their work, and lets them become a more productive member of our society. According to the plan, this network will have 12-14 staff members including nurses, social workers, and bilingual staff. Current plans foresee this network as a referral source for clinics from a free clinic that they normally use to have access to specialty care. The hope is that if a patient comes in, all it will take is one phone call to enable them to move up to a higher standard of care if needed. Integrating an Approach: Plans also include a case management system that will let nurses help their patients go through the preventative care network in a more beneficial,efficient manner. Nurses working there will keep up with their patients, making sure they are following physician instructions, and taking medicine correctly. Finally, the network wants to convert clinics into uninsured patients main source of care as compared to an ER visit at the local hospital. Expected start up/year one costs for the Oklahoma health care system are approximately $950,000, with about 25% of these funds already procured. It will cost an additional $900,000 for each year's operating costs. Funds will be obtained from trusts, foundations, health systems, hospitals,corporations, health foundations, residents, businesses, and the Oklahoma City/County Health Departments. With the founding of this health program comes great news for those who are not insured or are under insured along with those who depend primarily on disability or Social Security income. Before this new Oklahoma health care plan, there were very inconsistent choices for those who were either lower income or on fixed incomes. Because of the integration of this health care plan, residents are now able to take better advantage of both a higher standard and access to a reliable quality of health care. Matt writes for Lawter Law, a firm based out of Oklahoma who specializes in a wide variety of legal issues. Matt enjoys writing about health care topics related to the legal field.
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