Federal Recovery Coordinator Says Medical Homes 'Viable Model' For Providing Primary Care In New Orleans

Main Category: Public Health
Article Date: 20 Nov 2007 - 12:00 PDT


Federal Recovery Coordinator Donald Powell on Thursday said community health clinics are a "viable model" for delivering health care in New Orleans post-Hurricane Katrina, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reports (Monteverde, New Orleans Times-Picayune, 11/16).

HHS earlier this year allocated $195 million in a one-time round of grants to Gulf Coast health services. About $100 million of the grant money went toward clinics that provide primary care to low-income and uninsured residents in an effort to reduce dependency on emergency departments and ensure residents receive basic care (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 5/29).

According to the Times-Picayune, "government officials have wrestled with how to rebuild public health care for the uninsured and working poor of the city" after the 2005 hurricanes. Before the hurricane, uninsured residents would receive care at the now-shuttered Charity Hospital. As efforts to rebuild the hospital infrastructure continue, a network of charitable clinics, serving as "medical homes," has formed to provide uninsured residents with access to health care and to lessen reliance on EDs.

Powell said, "I think it's a model that deserves to be reviewed and looked at. Anytime you can get better health care with less cost, (it's) powerful." According to Karen DeSalvo, executive director of the Tulane Community Health Center, with the grant from the federal government, the center is able to treat about 1,000 residents every month, half of whom are uninsured (New Orleans Times-Picayune, 11/16).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation© 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

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