Resources
We publish research, tools, and lessons learned to help healthcare and legal organizations build and operate medical-legal partnerships and to help funders and policymakers advance medical-legal partnership activities. You can search those resources in the library below.
The library also links to journal articles, authored both by National Center for Medical-Legal Partnership staff and MLP practitioners and researchers from the field, that highlight ways medical-legal partnerships have improved patient health and well-being, the healthcare workforce, and healthcare delivery. A list of these articles with summaries are also available on the Peer-Reviewed Research page.
Medical-Legal Partnership as Value-Based Primary Care: Interprofessional Teamwork for Health-Related Social Needs
This article published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine describes ways that medical-legal partnership services can reduce hospitalizations and save on health care costs. It details steps to integrate medical-legal partnership activities into value-based healthcare financing streams.
Integrating Legal Aid into HIV Care: Evaluating the Impact of a Medical-Legal Partnership on Viral Suppression Outcomes
This article published in AIDS and Behavior examined the impact of MLP services for housing, employment, and public benefits on the adherence to medical treatment and viral load suppressions of people with HIV compared to treatment-as-usual. 202 people with HIV in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, were part of the study. At 3-month follow-up, MLP participants were significantly more likely to achieve viral suppression.
Feasibility of Medical-Legal Partnership to Improve Inpatient Outcomes and Reduce Hospital Length of Stay
This article published in the Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved reports on a study of 110 adult patients admitted to a safety-net public hospital beyond medically predicted length of stay. Each adult was assessed for health-harming legal needs and referred for MLP legal services if indicated. The assessment found that lack of guardianship was specifically associated with increased excess length of stay. Over a one year period, the MLP was able to reduce length of stay for some patients and cost-analysis showed savings in excess of $200,000.
Health, Housing, and Justice: Two-Year Implementation Evaluation of a Health System's Multi-State Medical-Legal Partnership to Address Housing Instability
A two-year evaluation of Kaiser Permanenteβs (KP) multi-state medical-legal partnership sheds light on how healthcare and legal sectors can work together to address housing instability and what it takes to implement these partnerships effectively at scale. The findings, published in Health Services Research, reveal that the MLP expanded access to legal services and delivered services efficiently. Eighty-two percent of legal cases were resolved with fewer than five hours of attorney time.
Addressing Unmet Social Needs and Social Risks β A Qualitative Interview-Based Assessment of Parent Reported Outcomes and Impact from a Medical-Legal Partnership
This article published in the Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics reports outcomes from one medical-legal partnership from the perspective of patient-clients. Patients who received legal services had improvements in physical health, including asthma control, and mental health benefits, such as reduced anxiety. MLP involvement also reduced caregiver stress, enabling parents to focus on their childβs health.
Designing and Developing a Medical-Legal Partnership to Address Cancer Patients' Health-Harming Legal Needs
The Georgetown University's Cancer Legal Assistance and Well-being Project launched in 2020 as a medical-legal partnership that works with health care providers at a Washington, D.C. safety-net hospital to treat the health-harming legal needs of historically and intentionally marginalized patients with cancer. Preliminary data support the estimate that the project has secured over $700,000 for patients in the form of insurance coverage, disability benefits and other income supports, paid leave, and debt relief. The findings were published in the Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved.
