Provide a resource guide for patients
Poverty is undeniably linked to health outcomes. Limited access to health care and basic needs make it significantly more difficult for people living below the NPPS to receive and sustain care.
Offer patients below the NPPS an extensive list of local resources for basic need items including food, clothing, personal care products, or other essentials for patients to take home, helping them to heal and stay healed.
Here are a few steps to get you started:
Identify a need in the community you serve. Individuals and families living below the NPPS may struggle to afford basic need items like nutritious food, clothing (e.g. coats and professional attire for work), personal care products, cleaning supplies, furniture, and back-to-school supplies. Survey your patients to identify the level and type of need among the population you serve. If you don't have the bandwidth for data collection, look for partner organizations such as nonprofits or educational institutions to help.
Research. Compile a list of local resources that provide basic need items for a low cost or for free.
Share. Offer your basic need resource guide to patients in households below the NPPS.
Best Practices / Innovative Programs
The National Association of Community Health Centers' Protocol for Responding to and Assessing Patients’ Assets, Risks, and Experiences (PREPARE) is a set of best practices for healthcare providers to identify their patient's social determinants of health. Use the PREPARE toolkit available through the National Association of Community Health Centers to learn how to implement this program.
Hunger Free Colorado is a nonprofit that partners with healthcare organizations to screen patients for food insecurity and connect identified patients with food resources.
Massachusetts General Hospital's Food for Families program screens patients for hunger and food insecurity and connects families to local nutrition resources including an on-site food pantry sourced weekly by the Greater Boston Food Bank; local food pantries, community meals, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and Wome
