Byline: Guy Boulton
Dec. 17--The Department of Health and Human Services announced on Friday a $100,000 grant to MilwaukeeCares to help the fledgling project set up its proposed network of volunteer doctors who would provide free care to low-income people without health insurance.
The state grants, which give 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 of Milwaukee County and Partnerships for Healthy Milwaukee, an organization, funded by the College of Health Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
The goal is to set up a coordinated network of doctors who would agree to see a set number of uninsured patients. It also 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 -- the Health Care Network in Racine -- was started in 1987.
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,' said Helene Nelson, Secretary of the Department of Health and Family Services.
Nelson announced the grant -- which came from a one-time federal grants -- at the Westside Health Care Association, a community health clinic at 3522 W. Libson Ave. Community health care clinics also see uninsured patients, charging them fees tied to their incomes.
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 a staff to handle such tasks as determining eligibility and assigning patients.
That would eliminate a frequent frustration for doctors who see uninsured patients -- finding specialists when the patient needs a referral.
Many doctors already see the uninsured, said Dr. David Olson, a family practice physician and past president of the medical society.
'The problem is it is not coordinated,' he said.
MilwaukeeCares, which hopes to recruit 80 percent to 90 percent of the doctors 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 seeking 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.
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,' Nelson said.
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