Medical-legal partnerships effectively mitigate some social determinants of health impacting pediatric populations, reducing hospitalizations by over a third, according to the latest data in Health Affairs emailed to journalists.
Particularly, medical-legal partnerships can help children and their families ameliorate issues like potential eviction, denial of public benefits like food stamps or Medicaid/CHIP, and unhealthy housing situations. These social determinants of health can have downstream impacts, but the researchers showed that legal aid can help stem these factors and reduce high-acuity healthcare utilization.
Medical-legal partnerships have come to rise as the healthcare industry continues its focus on social determinants of health. Some social determinants of health, like food insecurity or transportation, are amenable to hospital or clinic intervention, but others, like housing eviction, require external help. Legal teams that work with medical staff can help patients navigate these legal challenges that impact patient health. (author abstract)
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