Professional Impact

One of the goals of medical-legal partnership is to simultaneously transform healthcare for vulnerable populations and the legal services delivery model to improve the health and well-being of families and individuals.  By training physicians to screen for social determinants of health and lawyers to intervene in a preventive posture, MLP aims to address legal problems before they become crises.

Visit the MLP Network page to view lists of medical schools, residency programs, law schools, legal aid offices and private law firms that are engage in medical-legal partnership.

Impact on Healthcare Professions

Professional Resolutions

In June 2010, the American Medical Association passed a resolution in support of MLP. Click here to read more.

The American Academy of Pediatrics and the Arizona Academy of Family Physicians have also passed resolutions in support of MLP.

• American Academy of Pediatrics – adopted December 2007
• Arizona Academy of Family Physicians – adopted April 2008

A similar resolution is currently pending before the American Academy of Family Physicians. 

RWJF Health Policy Fellows

In 2010, two MLP medical directors were selected as Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellows.  Dr. David Keller of the Family Advocates of Central Massachusetts and Dr. Shale Wong of the Colorado Medical-Legal Partnership were selected to complete a 12-month fellowship in Washington, D.C. to provide health policy leadership on Capitol Hill to improve health and health care.

AHRQ Profile

In July 2009, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) published an Innovation Profile on NCMLP and MLP | Boston: Provider-Lawyer Partnerships Increase Access to Health-Related Legal Services and Improve Well-Being for Low-Income Children and Families is available on the AHRQ website. Download a PDF

Impact on Legal Professions

American Bar Association MLP Pro Bono Support Project

In October 2008, the American Bar Association made a significant commitment to the MLP model by developing a national support center to further extend the reach of medical-legal partnership by engaging the private bar in support of these partnerships. The center is supported by the ABA Enterprise Fund and is a joint project of the ABA Standing Committee on Pro Bono and Public Service, the Health Law Section, the AIDS Coordinating Committee and the ABA Center on Children and the Law.

For more information, please contact:
Kelly Scott-Flood, Esq.
Staff Attorney, Center for Pro Bono
scottk@staff.abanet.org
http://www.abanet.org/legalservices/probono/medlegal/home.shtml

Pro Bono Involvement

Dozens of private law firms and corporate counsel partner with MLPs, taking individual cases and participating in clinics or working with health institutions to establish new partnerships.  On a national level, law firms have donated countless hours to assist with confidentiality and ethics issues, as well as to help guide MLP policy efforts.

Professional Resolutions

In August 2007, the American Bar Association adopted a resolution in support of medical-legal partnership:

RESOLVED, That the American Bar Association encourages lawyers, law firms, legal services agencies, law schools and bar associations to develop medical-legal partnerships with hospitals, community-based health care providers, and social service organizations to help identify and resolve diverse legal issues that affect patients’ health and well-being.

Click here to read the Health Law Section's Accompanying Report to the House of Delegates