The bi-partisan MLP for Health Act was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate on July 29th. Two identical bills were filed authorizing federal funds for a nationwide demonstration project for MLP. Sponsors were Senators Evan Bayh (IN), Kit Bond (MO) and Tom Harkin (IA) and Reps Dan Maffei (NY-25) and Chris Murphy (CT-5).
NCMLP has reserved a block of rooms at a reduced conference rate at the Sheraton Inner Harbor Hotel for Summit participants. There is limited space, so book early. The Summit session application is also now online. Submissions are due September 24th.
Jane's eleven year-old, hearing-impaired daughter Grace lives with cerebral palsy. Jane told Grace's pediatrician she was concerned her daughter's struggles in school were due to a lack of special support. The pediatrician made a referral to the lawyer down the hall.
There are currently medical-legal partnerships at over 200 hospitals and health centers, including new MLPs in Somerville, MA, Jonesboro, AR and Chester, PA

Medical-Legal Partnership

Helping Vulnerable Individuals and Families Meet Their Basic Needs

Not every illness has a biological remedy.  A family forced to choose between food and heat in the winter months cannot be treated with a prescription or a vaccination.  Similarly, an asthmatic person will never breathe symptom free – no matter how much medication is administered – if he or she returns from the doctor’s office to mold-infested housing, as thousands do.

All over the U.S., health care providers who take care of low-income individuals and families are turning to a new specialist to help keep them healthy and safe: lawyers who practice poverty law.

Medical-legal partnerships integrate lawyers in a health setting to help patients navigate the complex government and community systems that often hold solutions to many social determinants of health – income supports for food insecure families, utility shut-off protection during cold winter months, and mold removal from the home of asthmatics.

Read more about how MLP went from a local program to a National Center

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Pro Bono Partners Invest in MLP

In 2009, Pro Bono partners provided over $13 million in in-kind services to medical-legal partnerships across the U.S.

Click here for more info from the 2010 MLP Network Site Survey.

Find out more about the role of pro bono in MLP by visiting the American Bar Association's Medical-Legal Partnerships Pro Bono Support Project: Pro Bono as a Healing Art website.