Letter from the Chief Medical Officer

Dear Colleagues:

Brigham and Women’s Hospital has a long-standing tradition of providing care for anyone and everyone who needs it, regardless of race, ethnicity and income level. Our practice is to provide appropriate care for all patients who arrive at our doorstep, but as you well know, our efforts extend well beyond simply not turning people away.

In the last few years, the state’s free care pool has become a lightning rod of controversy as our elected officials have grappled with difficult budgets while tackling health care reform. When legislators talk about this in terms of dollars and point out that it costs taxpayers more than $600 million each year, it’s easy to understand why it’s such a hot-button topic. The political rhetoric heats up even more when these costs are juxtaposed with funding for education and public safety.

BWH and Partners HealthCare Systems have made a concerted effort to go beyond the dollar signs and cut through the rhetoric with several outreach efforts. One shining example of this is Josefina Roques and all the work she has done since last year to help patients who qualify for free care actually get that care. Josefina, through a grant BWH and Partners Community Health Benefits secured from the Boston Foundation, is our free care access coordinator. Since October of last year, she has helped more than 500 people navigate the daunting paperwork maze that is free care, and more importantly, got them the care they needed.

Thanks to Josefina, these patients see primary care physicians for routine examinations like a Papsmear, mammogram or colonoscopy. Providing preventive care and counsel on a regular basis is medically sound as well as cost efficient. The alternative, which we know only too well, is these patients wait until they can’t stand the pain any longer, present to our ED and get admitted to an ICU with late- or end-stage disease. Any chance of prevention or disease management is long gone. With all our advance technology and evidence-based care in and around Boston, this tendency toward delayed reactive management truly is a tragedy.

But we are heartened by the daily work of staff like Josefina, the commitment of our lawmakers and the leadership here at BWH and Partners. Our commitment to identifying and eliminating the health care disparities based on ethnicity, race and income extends throughout our institution. Gary Gottlieb continues to work with Mayor Menino and his task force to eliminate racial disparities. JudyAnn Bigby and the Office for Women, Family and Community Programs are in the process of surveying frontline clinicians to see what more can be done and how we can do it most effectively.

The reward in facing and addressing this issue is enormous. We will ensure the health of our neighbors and community while reducing costs and improving efficiencies. It’s more than a win-win. It’s a must.

Sincerely,

Andy Whittemore, MD