AMCNO Participates in National Medical Legal Partnership Advocacy Day and Briefing on Capitol Hill

The AMCNO was pleased to participate in the MLP Advocacy Day and we were honored to participate in a briefing to Congressional representatives. Participants in the briefing included Dr. John Bastulli, AMCNO Vice President of Legislative Affairs, Mr. Thomas Susman, Esq., Director, Government Affairs Office for the American Bar Association (ABA) and Ms. Ellen Lawton, Esq., Executive Director of the National Center for Medical-Legal Partnerships. There was a great turnout that included staff from Congressional offices, the ABA, the AMCNO staff and various government agencies. 

Dr. Bastulli noted that the AMCNO became involved with the medical legal partnership in our region through the work of our Medical Legal Liaison committee. This committee is comprised of doctors and lawyers from across the Northern Ohio region. The medical legal liaison committee has utilized its’ resources and volunteer efforts through many of the major Cleveland law firms who work for physicians to accomplish the AMCNO mission. The goal of the Medical Legal Liaison Committee is not just to help doctors work with attorneys - more importantly, the goal is to help doctors help their patients and that is why the MLP program is very important to them. Through the committee they plan to help the MLP program in order to allow physicians to better help their patients. Going forward, the medical legal liaison committee plans to utilize their resources through the major Cleveland law firms that are involved with the AMCNO with the MLP effort. 

He further commented that underscoring the medical legal partnership is an understanding that human health is not solely dependent on pathology or medical treatment. Instead, human health can be affected by social factors and unmet legal needs. Physicians typically do not have the time to navigate the bureaucratic complexities that can unintentionally hinder low-income or vulnerable patients’ ability to receive benefits from public programs like Medicaid. But because physicians are in a unique position to identify environmental issues affecting patient health, MLPs frequently can then enable lawyers to intervene on behalf of patients before an unmet legal or environmental need reaches crisis levels.

He noted that unmet social and legal needs can have a significant effect on patient health, as well as medical conditions. MLPs are designed to identify and resolve these unmet legal and social needs by joining attorneys with other members of the patient’s treatment team. MLP’s have been established as an effective means of improving patient health by addressing unmet needs that physicians practicing without legal collaboration typically would not be able to address. This is where the legal profession plays a major role as advocates. That is one of the reasons the medical legal partnership is so important. Because the MLPs have limited resources, they are always looking at ways to get more resources in both people and dollars - expanding their volunteer pool, and expanding their partnerships. The more the MLP can work through partnerships to take care of their client community the more they can impact their clients. He noted that in order for these types of programs to grow and flourish we will need adequate funding and therefore, the AMCNO strongly advocates on behalf of legislation that would provide that funding.

Mr. Susman from the ABA noted that one of the beauties of lawyers and doctors working together is that a lawyer can get involved in the earlier stages and get things done and lawyers help patients with issues such as income support for food, for children in a hospital medical facility for the malnourished. The relationship of doctors and lawyers can do something to address not just addressing the health care situation after the fact, but also by preventing it from occurring again. He also stated that there is something in this program for patients, something for lawyers, for health care institutions, something for the government, something for insurers, something for everyone at the table who is trying to keep people healthy. Lawyers work after the fact when there is a need for assistance. 

Ms. Lawton noted they are starting to see a change in the standard of care from hospitals and health centers that serve the populations that have strong support from groups like AMCNO and national groups like the American Hospital Association and the American Medical Association. She stated that there is a lot of work left to do – noting that shifting the training and priorities is going to take time, leadership and resources. All of the panelists agreed that there is a real need to provide additional funds and help programs such as the MLP. There is a plan on the part of the national MLP to reintroduce legislation in Congress to provide for additional funding for MLP programs and the AMCNO plans to continue to work on the national and regional level in an effort to expand the MLP concept in our area. Once the legislation is introduced at the federal level the AMCNO will reconvene stakeholders in our region to continue the discussions in our region on this important concept.