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.
Doctors and Lawyers Collaborating To HeLP Children: Outcomes From a Successful Partnership Between Professions
This article in the Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved shares the results of a three-year study examining the impact of medical-legal partnership services in an academic pediatric primary care setting at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. There were positive legal outcomes in 89 percent of referrals affecting nearly 6,000 cohabitating children and adults, and translating into nearly $200,000 in recovered back benefits for those individuals.
Can Access to a Medical-Legal Partnership Benefit Patients with Asthma Who Live in an Urban Community?
Low-income children are more likely to suffer worse asthma outcomes because of their socioeconomic status and environmental exposures. During a seven-year study, a medical-legal partnership at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta addressed legal problems of asthma patients and their families. As a result, families experienced reduced stress and received a total of $501,209 in financial benefits.
Identifying and Treating a Substandard Housing Cluster Using a Medical-Legal Partnership
This article examines how a pediatric-based medical-legal partnership in Cincinnati, Ohio, identified and treated a cluster of 16 substandard housing units. Of the 45 children living in those units, 36 percent had asthma, 33 percent had developmental delay or behavioral disorder, and 9 percent had an elevated lead level. The MLP was able to make repairs to the majority of the units and improve home environmental conditions for these children.
Pilot Study of Impact of Medical-Legal Partnership Services on Patients’ Perceived Stress and Wellbeing
An Arizona study assessed the stress levels of patients before and after receiving legal services and found that medical-legal partnership intervention led to a reduction in perceived stress and an improvement in overall wellbeing. The findings were published in the Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved.
Environmental Improvements Brought By The Legal Interventions In The Homes Of Poorly Controlled Inner-City Adult Asthmatic Patients: A Proof-Of-Concept Study
A study in New York City analyzed the effects of medical-legal partnership services that forced landlords to provide better living conditions for adult patients with asthma. It found that the number of Emergency Department visits and hospital admissions declined post-MLP intervention, and that all patients had reduction in medication due to increased wellbeing. The findings, published in the Journal of Asthma, indicate that legal care is effective in bringing about substantial symptomatic and objective improvements in adult asthma patients.
The Health Law Partnership: Adding a Lawyer to the Health Care Team Reduces System Costs and Improves Provider Satisfaction
This article in the Journal of Healthcare Management examines the role the medical-legal partnership at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta played in increasing reimbursements, reducing costs, and improving access to care for patients with low socioeconomic status. Over a four-year period, the MLP secured Medicaid payments for services that would otherwise be unreimbursed. MLP services also led to an increase in physician satisfaction and saved hospital employers $10,000 annually in continuing education costs.