Health Care for a Changing Work Force

The Robert F. Kennedy Farm Workers Medical Plan makes healthcare for union workers more affordable and accessible, providing workers with a much-needed safety net. The RFK plan covers about 3,000 members of the United Farm Workers — which consists of about 7,500 people, including spouses and children.

Rural hospitals across the country often struggle to stay open in states where Medicaid has not been expanded, but a method known as "swing beds" has helped two critical-access hospitals in Georgia to avoid this fate. This method, which allows hospitals to swing beds from "only patients in need of acute care to those who no longer require the emergency department but still needed more treatment before a nursing home," allowed for the hospitals to pay off debt and expand services.

A hospital in Nigeria has implemented the use of an electronic medical record (EMR) system for patients to decrease mismanagement practices and increase transparency and accountability. The card that patients are given resembles an ATM card and acts as a means of health records and payment information.

Maryland's health care system is based on three pillars – all-payer rate setting, a global budget, and total cost of care – that, together, have shown positive results both for the patients and for the state's hospitals. Although evidence of success with regard to health care costs is limited, the model of incentiving investment in community health and preventive care has shown success in reducing readmission rates for hospitals across the state.

Unlike other states, Connecticut is running their own medicaid program. The state is reducing costs by reaching out to people before they get severely sick. They’re using their extensive medicaid data, looking for people who face a greater risk of getting a disease, reaching out to them, and connecting them with preventative care. “The state’s per-patient spending on Medicaid dropped by an average of 5.7 percent each year between 2010 and 2014.”

'Super-users' are people who use the healthcare system a disproportionate amount more. Programs such as One Care are designed to care for these 'super-users' organizing their complex care in order to reduce emergency room visits, prevent unnecessary procedures, and bring the cost of their care down.

Hidalgo Medical Services is a nonprofit public health clinic that has set out to develop a model for delivering quality, affordable health care to rural communities through a comprehensive approach that addresses multiple patient needs at once.

Many U.S. medical systems are using medical-legal partnerships to help disadvantaged patients who need help navigating problems with landlords and insurers that interfere with their health.

The PhiferCares Clinic and pharmacy offers its employees and their families free healthcare and prescriptions. Phifer, a global manufacturing company, opened the clinic five years ago as a way to prevent medical bills from driving coworkers into debt and keeping them from retirement. This no-cost access to healthcare has helped 90% of Phifer employees hit their retirement goals, up from about 75% five years ago.

In collaboration with Intuitive Health, UF Health has opened three centers that offer both ER and urgent care 24/7, at the same facility so patients don’t have to decide themselves which care they need. Instead, doctors at the center make that decision and then the system bills the patient accordingly. This helps them avoid taking on expensive ER bills when that level of care may not have been necessary.