Mobile Health Clinics Forum - 2010
Jennifer Bennet
Executive Director, The Family Van
Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
Nancy Oriol, MD
Associate Professor of Anaesthesia
Global Health and Social Medicine
Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
Abstract: Mobile Health Clinics at the Crossroads
The Mobile Health Clinics are an important sector within the continuum of the Health Care System. They are the unintimidating entry portals for medically disenfranchised patients with low trust in the health system. They are a convenient and often free curbside entry point for the time-constrained uninsured working poor. And they are sometimes the only access to healthcare for the geographically isolated - especially for such groups as migrant farm workers, and for undocumented immigrants.
In 2005 the Mobile Health Clinics Association made an exhaustive search and identified over 2,000 distinct mobile health clinic programs. In the five years since that search, by report from mobile clinic manufacturers, many more mobile clinics have come into operation. If there are at least 2,000 MHCs each serving on average 3,640* unique patients a year, at least seven million people are utilizing this sector of the health care system for some part of their health care. Mobile clinics cover an expansive geographic area and serve a broad demographic spectrum of the population of this country and even more abroad.
The MHC sector has grown to its current size largely outside of the scrutiny of health services research. While many papers have been written that describe specific programs, the role of this sector within the overall health care system has not been captured and therefore is under recognized by academic medicine and governmental agencies. Despite this, established corporations and not for profit organizations have been investing in MHCs for many years. Ronald McDonald House Charities, The Veterans' Administration, March of Dimes, Boeing Company, to name a few, have all invested heavily in MHC programs recognizing that the populations they seek to serve are best served by a MHCs. These organizations operate from a vantage point of understanding what the public wants and needs.
The next stage for MHCs is to establish the role they play within the health care system. MobileHealthMAP.org has become a visible symbol of just how broad the sector's reach is and the project is beginning to document how cost effective MHCs are and the important role we have played collectively in both meeting the needs of the public and containing the costs of the health care system.
Learning Objectives
- Identify the population served by MHCs nationwide.
- Understand the breadth of preventative services provided by MHCs in the US and the cost savings to the greater healthcare system.
For more information about the MobileHealthMAP or to place your mobile health program on the MAP:
Contact MHCA
(415) 862-2032
mobilehealthcare@aol.com