Health providers form N.H. Health Access Network to look at new ways to reduce barriers to health care services

New Hampshire hospitals and several health care provider groups announced today the beginning of the N.H. Health Access Network – a first-ever collaborative effort to address the deterioration of our state’s health care safety net.

“Today, far too many people are going without reasonable access to essential health services here in New Hampshire,” said Mike Hill, president of the Foundation for Healthy Communities. “Providers who sign onto the N.H. Health Access Network are committed to working together to do what they can to shore up our state’s safety net.”

The Foundation for Healthy Communities started bringing hospitals and provider groups together seven months ago to begin to build the N.H. Health Access Network. So far, all 26 community hospitals, three specialty hospitals and three provider groups have signed on. Participation requires a commitment to four guiding principles:

      1) To provide dependable access to care for vulnerable residents regardless of ability to pay

      2) To offer levels of free and discounted care that meet or exceed eligibility thresholds adopted by the Network

      3) To work together to enhance continuity of care and coordination of care for vulnerable residents

      4) To work together to reduce or eliminate barriers to care

Hospitals and other health care providers have always provided free or discounted care to patients who cannot afford to pay. In 2001, about $142 million in uncompensated care was provided by New Hampshire hospitals alone. However, this is the first time a statewide group has voluntarily come together to agree upon best practices in financial assistance programs across the health care spectrum and to work toward improving access to health care for low-income, uninsured or under-insured children and adults.

“When I was first approached about the Network, I questioned whether such an idea could work and whether it would work for my organization,” said Theresa Koehler, vice president of finance for Alice Peck Day Memorial Hospital in Lebanon. “In order to sign onto the Network we had to make some immediate changes to our financial assistance policies, and we have already seen some dramatic and positive results.”

Koehler said Alice Peck Day expects to provide 70 percent more financial assistance this year than last year. The eligibility guidelines adopted by the Network are equivalent to those for federally qualified community health centers, and some hospitals had to shift the eligibility guidelines of their financial assistance programs to include patients with greater income levels.

In addition to adopting eligibility guidelines, the Network is piloting a simplified application form that could eventually be used by all Network participants. The Network is also looking at how staff members can better help patients with the application process, how to encourage more people to apply for the help they need, and how to reduce the stigma of financial assistance programs.

Dr. Wendy Gladstone, medical director of SeaCare Health Services in Exeter, said she was very excited to hear about the Network’s formation and to see her organization sign on as a participant. SeaCare is a volunteer network of about 400 health providers who donate care to uninsured and underinsured, low-income children and adults in the seacoast area.

“I have always felt the SeaCare model is reproducible and that it’s an untapped resource,” said Dr. Gladstone. “It is an exciting prospect to make that link between willing providers and people looking for care around the state.”

The Network is still in its infancy, and participants expect that it will be between 3 to 5 years before it is fully developed. Most importantly, participants stress that it is a stop-gap measure until a comprehensive, long-term solution can be found.

“It would be wrong to assume that hospitals, physicians, community health centers, home care agencies and other safety net providers can solve the access problems that plague so many New Hampshire families,” said Mike Hill. “The Network is not the solution, but it is an unprecedented step in the right direction.”

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The Foundation for Healthy Communities is a nonprofit corporation that exists to improve health and health care, and includes New Hampshire hospitals, health plans, clinicians, home care agencies and public policy leaders. For more information about the Foundation and the N.H. Health Access Network, visit www.healthynh.com.

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