C O L L A B O R AT I N G F O R B E T T E R C A R E
Medical-legal partnerships help patients thrive Article author Blake Windsor, MD Edited by Jonathan Markowitz, MD, FAAP James Stallworth, MD, FAAP
Both the MLP in Greenville and CHAMPS serve vulnerable patient populations to reduce health-harming legal barriers, increase access to healthcare and improve overall community health. At its core, these services merge legal and clinical solutions to identify and address potential health risks, remove civil legal barriers, and help disadvantaged families find new pathways for success. Greenville’s program aids pediatric and geriatric clients while CHAMPS focuses on pediatrics only. Both help families in need – free of charge – navigate the cumbersome legal and healthcare systems that so many face. “A lot of wonderful low-income families have very serious and widely varying health-harming civil legal needs,” said Kirby Mitchell, an SCLS attorney who directs Greenville’s MLP. “These needs can and do include all kinds of issues, ranging from employment law and public benefits to education and family law. We are determined to be holistic and responsive to patient needs and meet the families where they are.”
SCLS attorney Kirby Mitchell meets with an adult patient needing legal assistance.
The reality that social determinants of health need to be addressed with help beyond the medical field led to the creation in 2016 of the Medical Legal Partnership (MLP) in the Upstate between what is now Prisma Health, Furman University and South Carolina Legal Services (SCLS). A year later, a similar partnership developed in the Midlands called CHAMPS (Carolina Health Advocates Medicolegal PartnerShip), which partners with Prisma Health, the University of South Carolina School of Medicine Columbia, University of South Carolina School of Law and SCLS.
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In one example, a 1-year-old with cystic fibrosis was repeatedly admitted to the hospital with trouble breathing and lung infections. The MLP attorney successfully challenged the landlord over a mold-infested apartment, and the landlord was forced to move the family and provide new tiles and air filters. As a result, the child’s breathing improved and hospital admissions dropped. In another case, a baby discharged from the neonatal ICU continued to need complex round-the-clock care. When Medicaid cut the approved hours, the CHAMPS attorney successfully appealed the denial – the infant received the care needed and a return stay in the hospital was prevented.
