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Initiative to Treat Uninsured Gets Grant; MilwaukeeCares Plans to Create Network of Volunteer Doctors

Posted on: Saturday, 17 December 2005, 15:00 CST

By GUY BOULTON

The Department of Health and Human Services announced Friday a $100,000 grant to MilwaukeeCares to help the fledging project set up a network of volunteer doctors who would provide free care to the uninsured.

The state grant, which gives the money over two years, marks the first significant funding of the project.

"They are the first to put their money on the table," said James Ketterhagen, president of the Medical Society of Milwaukee County.

MilwaukeeCares is an initiative of the medical society and Partnerships for Healthy Milwaukee, an organization funded by the College of Health Sciences at the University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee.

The plan calls for a coordinated network of doctors who would agree to see a set number of low income, uninsured patients.

It would put in place a system in which people without insurance would have a primary care doctor who would oversee and coordinate their health care.

The network also would include hospitals, imaging centers, lab and other businesses that would provide their services for free.

The project is modeled after a widely praised program started in Asheville, N.C., that has since spread to other communities. A similar program in Racine, the Health Care Network, was started in 1987.

In Wisconsin, an estimated 212,000 people in 2003 were without health coverage for a full year. They typically are people who work in low-paying jobs that don't offer affordable health insurance or are self-employed. An estimated eight out of 10 people without insurance are from working families.

Others have pre-existing medical conditions that make insurance unaffordable or impossible to get.

"What we know is there is a long way to go to provide health care for all," said Helene Nelson, Secretary of the Department of Health and Family Services.

Nelson announced the grant at the Westside Health Care Association, a community health clinic on W. Libson Ave.

MilwaukeeCares network would replace the patchwork of services such as community health centers, free clinics and hospital emergency rooms that bear much of the burden of providing health care for the uninsured.

"This is a step toward more rational health care and more timely health care," Nelson said.

The state grant money will go toward hiring an executive director. Ketterhagen estimates the project will need an additional $50,000 to hire someone to oversee the project. The work so far has been done by volunteers.

Ketterhagen, who is chief medical officer of Covenant Healthcare, estimated that MilwaukeeCares could have a network in place within a year of hiring a director and staff.

The program would require an annual budget of about $500,000, he said. That would cover the cost of handling such tasks as determining eligibility and assigning patients.

Creating the network would eliminate a frequent frustration for doctors who see uninsured patients, finding specialists when they need referrals.

Many doctors already see the uninsured, said David Olson, a family practice physician and past president of the medical society.

But Olson, who is recruiting doctors for the network, said the problem is that the network is not coordinated.

MilwaukeeCares, which hopes to recruit 80% to 90% of the doctors practicing in Milwaukee County, would set up a network that would make the referrals effortless.

The project also could save the health care system money.

The uninsured often postpone getting health care, which can lead to costly complications. The Institute of Medicine, part of the National Academy of Sciences, estimates that at least 18,000 Americans die prematurely each year because they lack health coverage.

"People aren't getting the right care at the right time and place," Nelson said.

Copyright 2005, Journal Sentinel Inc. All rights reserved. (Note: This notice does not apply to those news items already copyrighted and received through wire services or other media.)

Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

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