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.
Impact of a Medical-Legal Partnership Program on Readmissions to a Family Medicine Inpatient Service
A recent study examined the impact of unmet legal needs on hospital readmission rates at the SIU Family and Community Medicine inpatient service at Memorial Medical Center in Springfield, Illinois. Data from 2500 hospital discharges were analyzed alongside unmet legal needs identified through an interview-based screening tool. The results show that unmet legal needs appear to be an independent risk factor for hospital readmission.
Medical-Legal Partnership Impact on Parents' Perceived Stress: A Pilot Study
A pilot study at Rutgers showed that, following a medical-legal partnership intervention, parents had improvements in perceived stress.
Needs of Homeless Veterans: 5 Years of the CHALENG Survey 2012–16
National surveys of homeless veterans have been conducted for over a decade, but there has been no examination of changes in the needs of homeless veterans. This article looks at data from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ 2012, 2014, and 2016 CHALENG surveys to see how homeless veterans’ most pressing needs have changed over the last several years.
Addressing Social Determinants Of Health Through Medical-Legal Partnerships
This article shares how more than 300 hospitals, health centers, and clinics across the U.S. are using legal services to treat issues–including housing, access to insurance, and stable guardianship–that drive health inequities. The authors drew on national survey findings and field research to identify multiple models for delivering medical-legal partnership services in clinical settings. While the models of delivery vary, the paper’s authors also identified eight core elements that define the intervention.
Improving the Care of Youth With Type 1 Diabetes With a Novel Medical-Legal Community Intervention: The Diabetes Community Care Ambassador Program
A study of an intervention among youth with type 1 diabetes, which included medical-legal partnership counsel as a key element, found that 30 percent of youth accepted legal counsel. Youth enrolled in the program were found to demonstrate significant improvement in their glycemic control after one year of the intervention, as compared to youth not enrolled in the program.
Medical-Legal Partnerships At Veterans Affairs Medical Centers Improved Housing And Psychosocial Outcomes For Vets
Researchers from Yale School of Medicine and the Department of Veterans Affairs – Connecticut examined the outcomes of veterans who accessed legal services at four medical-legal partnership sites in Connecticut and New York from 2014 to 2016. Researchers observed significant improvements in Veterans’ housing, income, and mental health.