Celebrating 20 Years of MaineHealth Access to Care
Molly McCarthy, Lead Medical Outreach Case Manager, working with a client.
Over the past two decades, MaineHealth Access to Care has helped vulnerable populations navigate the complexities of the health care system to ensure comprehensive, affordable health care and improve the quality of life in our communities. Operating under a “no wrong door” policy, a patient can be referred to any of the Access to Care programs and get evaluated or assisted through the appropriate program(s). Access to Care programs include:
- MedAccess
- CarePartners
- Coverage Team
- Complex Coverage Group
- Homeless HealthPartners
- Patient Assistance Line
Over 119,000 people helped since 2001
Access to Care programs have a significant financial and personal impact on MaineHealth patients. One client, Cindi Neale, whose application was approved for free care, shared appreciation for all the help and guidance provided by the Coverage Team: “[They] fought to help me and that was amazing. Keep on caring about others; empathy is a noble characteristic… you do your job well, you made a huge difference for someone.”
Access to Care programs have significantly evolved and expanded over 20 years to support and meet the needs of individuals in our communities in an ever-changing health care landscape.
The earliest programs, CarePartners and MedAccess, launched in 2001 and 2005 respectively, helping community members get access to comprehensive health care services and lower cost medications. Once the Affordable Care Act was signed into law in 2010, additional programs were added to help navigate the complexity of the Health Insurance Marketplace and the web of social safety net programs created to meet the health and social service needs of the underserved.
Reducing barriers to care through outreach and education
“Our goal is to make an impact every day, whether it is empowering individuals on their path to health and wellness, reducing barriers to care through outreach and education, or developing creative solutions that ultimately improve the value of care for each individual we serve,” said Carol Zechman, Senior Director, Access to Care. “Access to Care champions the positon that health care should be available, affordable and accessible for everyone. Taking into account that some populations face health obstacles that are more complex than any one enabling factor, Access to Care continues to identify and address the underlying web of social, physical and financial needs facing many of the individuals navigating our current health system.
MaineHealth is dedicated to this work that reinforces the values of patient-centered and respect, supports a key part of their mission of providing high-quality, affordable care, and embodies the vision of working together so our communities are the healthiest in America.
From a Member of the Coverage Team
I received a call from a gentleman requesting coverage assistance on a Friday. He hadn’t been feeling well lately and wanted to go to the doctor, but didn’t have any health insurance, so he was reluctant to make an appointment. I advised him that he would not be barred from seeing a doctor due to lack of insurance, and that he should make that call and be seen, and then we could schedule a meeting to figure out what programs he could benefit from. He agreed.
Monday morning, I am working the inpatient census, and there he is! As I enter his room and introduce myself, his wife jumps out of her chair and exclaims, “You’re the one! You saved my husband’s life! You are the person my husband spoke to on Friday who convinced him to call the doctor. He wouldn’t listen to me-I had been telling him to call the doctor for days! The doctor sent him to the ER, and the ER found out that he had sepsis from an untreated kidney infection, which put stress on his heart, AND his blood sugar was 600. They said if he hadn’t come to the ER that night, he wouldn’t have made it!”
Tears sting my eyes as the wife envelops me in a bear hug. After some smiles and more tears, we completed the MaineCare application. Access to care is sometimes not so much about finding coverage as it is about finding miracles.
