Mobile Medication Center Rolls Through Pasco Today

By Laura Kate Zaichkin, Tri-City Herald, Kennewick, Wash.

May 29–People who need help paying for prescription drugs might want to catch a bus that’s rolling through Pasco this morning.

The Help is Here Express bus is a traveling enrollment center that helps the uninsured and those struggling to pay for prescriptions get access to free or discounted medications.

“The cost of pharmaceuticals is always one of the barriers to providing health care,” said Manuel Navarro, Miramar Health Center’s clinic administrator.

The buses have traveled to all 50 states and more than 2,000 cities. Yakima Valley Farm Workers Clinic is sponsoring the stop at Miramar, as well as a Yakima stop, Navarro said.

Staff aboard the bus use computers and telephones on board to connect those in need to prescription assistance programs.

Though many Farm Workers Clinic locations have employees who link patients to prescription assistance programs, Miramar does not.

“That’s a resource that’s missing for us,” Navarro said.

Benton-Franklin Access to Care — a nonprofit that until recently helped uninsured, low-income people get medical care — used to be a community resource that linked clients to discounted prescriptions.

But connecting Mid-Columbians to prescription help has been meager since Access to Care suspended operations last month because of a lack of money.

“We’re able to provide primary care,” Navarro said. But navigating the health care system to access affordable medicine, especially for those with chronic conditions, is an issue, he added.

“The programs out there are really good,” he said. “But there’s lack of knowledge and patient access.”

And there are still limitations to the Partnership for Prescription Assistance bus program, Navarro said.

When a patient-medication match is made, clients are then expected to independently complete necessary applications, mail them and follow up if needed.

But some patients need more help than the bus can provide, which might include help filling out applications, following up or refilling prescriptions, Navarro said.

In the Tri-Cities, there are few places where those who qualify for prescription assistance programs can get comprehensive help with applications and follow-up, said Brooke DuBois, the executive director of the Benton-Franklin Community Health Alliance and former director of Access to Care.

“As of the moment, that’s just not happening,” she said. “There isn’t a place.”

Community health centers that used to rely on Access to Care for prescription assistance are working to develop programs for their patients, and some private physicians might offer comprehensive assistance, she said.

“But it takes so much time that I doubt it,” DuBois said. “It’s labor intensive so it costs money to do it.”

Area hospitals, community clinics and other health care providers have been meeting to develop a system of care for the uninsured in the community. Its second meeting is today.

DuBois said she hopes the development of a program that provides help with applying for prescription assistance programs can be addressed during these meetings.

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