Take this cash and call me in the morning

Clinica Amistad is a free, volunteer-driven primary care clinic addressing the healthcare access gap for uninsured and underinsured residents, particularly among the Hispanic/Latine community. Operating on $600,000 or less per year, the clinic offers a wide range of services, including chronic disease management, behavioral health counseling, and a Spanish-language pre-diabetes education program. In 2024, the clinic served 956 patients across nearly 2,500 visits, with patient volume growing 10% since 2017.

The Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative provides a 10-step approach to hospital-based breastfeeding support in an effort to increase breastfeeding rates and reduce the racial disparities Black women often face during breastfeeding initiation. Breastfeeding has been shown to have a significant impact on a baby and mother’s health outcomes and the breastfeeding medicine clinic is available to anyone who is interested, including Medicaid patients who wouldn’t be able to afford the services otherwise.

Physical illnesses trigger and exacerbate poverty because costs are too high to treat them. The Associação Saúde Criança in Rio de Janeiro counsels helps by assisting families with services such as food, medicine, vocational training, housing, and legal aid, which helps mothers achieve their personal goals.

A mobile diabetes clinic in Calgary brings comprehensive healthcare directly to people experiencing homelessness or low income at community health centers. The team provides services including foot care, retinal scans, blood and urine screening with immediate results, dietary counseling, and connections to housing and mental health programs. The "one-stop-shop" model eliminates the need for patients to travel to multiple appointments, ensuring they get the care they need.

Birth in Color's doulas are filling the maternity care gap as rural labor and delivery rooms close, disproportionately impacting people of color. Doulas provide physical, emotional and informational support before, during and after childbirth, and advocate on the mother’s behalf. Doula care leads to improved birth outcomes and lower rates of C-sections, and in April 2022 doula services were added under the state’s Medicaid program.

The Health Wagon provides healthcare to remote, rural communities where accessibility and stigma have historically prevented residents from accessing care. The Wagon operates through multiple stationary clinics and about a dozen mobile sites across six counties. The Health Wagon takes a more individualized approach to healthcare, connecting with patients on a personal level, helping dismantle decades of barriers that prevent rural locals from accessing and understanding the care they need.

Several doctors are working together to integrate oral health into medical checkups for children, pregnant women and others who can’t afford or access a dentist. With the help of a five-year, $6 million federal grant, a team of doctors and dental hygienists has trained 250 primary care providers in how to provide oral health care in several states, allowing patients to access dental care during regular checkups.

ALL IN is a produce prescription program that gives patients, who are dealing with a variety of cardio-metabolic or behavioral conditions, free fruits and vegetables paired with behavioral interventions, like exercise. Its “three-ingredient approach” includes a prescription for 16 weekly bags of produce that are delivered for free by a local farm, free exercise and stress-reduction classes, and food-as-medicine training for clinic staff who are key in patients’ success.

A new initiative at St. John’s Health in Wyoming aimed at bettering people's health while saving the hospital money by combining wellness services with behavioral programs has shown promise but was put on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic. Instead of pausing the program in entirety, however, program administrators have instead adapted it for St. John's employees as a means of keeping staff healthy.

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.