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.
Rural Medical-Legal Partnership and Advocacy: A Three-Year Follow-up Study
A three-year study of a rural medical-legal partnership at Southern Illinois Healthcare showed that the hospital made a 319% return on its investment in MLP services by recovering dollars for clinical services. An article in the Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved shares that patients also experienced a range of social benefits from MLP services.
Medical-Legal Partnership: Impact on Patients With Sickle Cell Disease
A medical-legal partnership at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta saw 76 children with sickle cell disease over a six-year period to assist with a range of legal issues. It was found that MLP services resulted in a range of social and financial benefits for families.
Pilot Study of Medical-Legal Partnership to Address Social and Legal Needs of Patients
A 36-month study was conducted in California to examine the impact of clinic- and hospital-based legal services on fifty-four families in a pediatric setting. The results, published in the Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, showed that two-thirds of respondents reported improved child health and well-being due to increased awareness and use of free legal services and increased access to food and income supports. The study suggests that adding a legal aid attorney to the medical team can increase access to legal and social services and decrease barriers to care.
A Medical–Legal Partnership as a Component of a Palliative Care Model
In a three-year period, 297 referrals were made to a palliative care-based medical-legal partnership for legal assistance with custody planning and guardianships, advance care planning, benefits advocacy, estate planning, and housing. An article in the Journal of Palliative Medicine details how the medical-legal partnership was able to solve many of patients’ legal problems and help them access critical public benefits, while also providing financial benefit to the hospital. Through 17 cases where the MLP helped patients enroll in previously denied health care coverage, the hospital was able to recover $923,188 in unreimbursed clinical services.
The Attorney as the Newest Member of the Cancer Treatment Team
This article in the Journal of Clinical Oncology discusses a New York City-based medical-legal partnership that integrated legal interventions into cancer care. Patients reported stress reduction, positive effects on family and financial situations, and improved adherence to medical treatment.