Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, November 13, 1994 TAG: 9411140029
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: ROBERT FREIS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The challenge of making affordable health care available to all Americans wouldn't disappear. But people would be healthier while a solution is diagnosed.
About 90 local physicians participate in the Program for Special Medical Care. They voluntarily see patients who can't afford health insurance or are ineligible for government assistance.
Patients are asked to pay their doctors $3 per visit and a similar fee toward medicine. Physicians donate their time, expertise and facilities. There's no financial incentive beyond "helping people in need," said Robert Solomon, a Radford internist who is president of the program.
The program has about 375 clients. It aims to serve 450 clients by June, a goal that should be readily achieved. An estimated 20,000 residents of the New River Valley lack significant health insurance, said Rosemary Collins, the program's new administrator.
"We're barely touching the tip of the iceberg," Collins said.
The Program for Special Medical Care is expanding, even if the need is growing faster. During the past year, the program officially incorporated, the number of participating physicians nearly doubled, and the program hired Collins as its first employee.
Also, this year for the first time the Program for Special Medical Care will receive funding from the United Way of Montgomery County and Radford. Area hospitals have embraced the program, most through written agreements, Collins said.
The program has an annual budget of about $80,000, gathered largely from local private donations and fees. Participating doctors, pharmacists and hospitals will provide about a half-million dollars in medical services, Collins said.
Solomon estimates that more than a million dollars in services have been donated since the program began in 1987.
Clients are generally "working people," Solomon said. They're adults - from students to age 60 - who lost benefits or work part-time jobs that don't offer health insurance. Many have families to support.
"A lot just fall between the cracks," Collins said.
Most look to the innovative program as a temporary health care solution while they struggle to recover financial stability or seek eligibility for federal benefits. The program aims to help people who are motivated to help themselves, Collins said, so drug abuse cases are screened out.
Patients also are obligated to follow the physician's recommendations. If not, they can be dropped.
One important benefit of having an administrator and more resources is that more patients can be served, Collins said. The Program for Special Medical Care has advertised itself selectively, mostly through physician referrals, because it didn't want to turn away eligible clients.
"We can't see everybody. No program can," Collins said.
Solomon says his goal is to recruit 100 physicians by next year, meaning 80 percent to 90 percent of doctors in the New River Valley would be part of the effort.
His personal caseload contains about 40 patients referred through the program. The idea is to allow doctors to see patients conveniently in their own medical offices. "I don't really notice it in my day," Solomon said. "I get a really good feeling. It's a rewarding thing."
And patients have the opportunity to establish an on-going relationship with a physician, Collins said.
The program charges a small fee for prescription drugs, which can be waived if the clients can't afford to pay. Local druggists have been generous, but the costs of pharmaceuticals set by the big drug companies are rising while donations are dropping, Collins said.
"It's been a real problem," Solomon said.
Nonetheless, the Program for Special Medical Care plans to be a community presence for the indefinite future. Collins hopes the program will have the resources to sponsor community educational events advocating preventive health care.
"It's going to be a while before everyone in the county is covered. We see our program evolving as the need is there. We'd be glad to go out of business. But realistically we don't think that will happen," she said.
For more information about the Program for Special Medical Care, contact Rosemary Collins at 731-2562.
by CNB