Providing better, more cost effective health care to more people is one of the primary goals of U.S. health care reform, but in many underserved communities, access to adequate care continues to be an elusive target.
To illustrate the key role that the nation’s 2,000 mobile health clinics can play in successfully delivering quality care the Harvard Medical School’s Family Van has taken its show on the road.
The Family Van recruited and developed the tour in partnership with the Institute for Health Care Improvement (IHI). The tour will wind its way down the East Coast just before the IHI’s 15th Annual International Summit taking place March 9 to 11. They are one of 13 mobile clinics participating.
The “IHI Mobile Clinic Tour” launched in Boston on March 6 at the Morningstar Baptist Church in Mattapan, and will visit New York City and Washington, D.C. in an effort to educate the public about the growing relevance of mobile health clinics to the transformation of health care .
Nancy Oriol, HMS dean for students and founder of the Family Van, said the goal of the mobile tour is to highlight how mobile clinics can help achieve the goals of the Triple Aim; Oriol hopes that in the future, hospitals, doctor’s offices, medical centers and mobile clinics can be better integrated to coordinate care, be more efficient and cost effective for patients, cutting costs for people who have medical questions or concerns who might spend money to go to an emergency room when such a trip is unnecessary.
Founded in 1992, the Family Van, staffed with educators, dieticians and counselors, brings preventative health screenings and care to Boston neighborhoods each week, and serves thousands of clients in neighborhoods where the majority of residents are minorities, and where many are unemployed, retired or on disability.
“There were people who had insurance, had doctors, but had not been able to take advantage of what the system can offer, and it seemed to me that the hole between what they had and what they needed was their understanding of how to use the system,” said Oriol.
Four attending clinics participated in the Boston launch, including the Family Van, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute’s Mobile Mammography Program, New England On-Sight, and Health Innovations.
“The idea of the Family Van was to get outside of mainstream health care and get closer to peoples’ lives and share with them enough knowledge to make their next choice,” said Oriol, who is also an associate professor of anaesthesia at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
IHI focuses on innovations and improvement in health care, concentrating on individual health, population health and health care economics worldwide.
