Making a difference beyond our borders: patients often perceive healthcare finance staff as gatekeepers—people who stand between patients and their health care

Healthcare Financial Management, Nov, 2007 by Mary Beth Briscoe

However, most healthcare financial managers I have ever met are dedicated to finding creative ways to make health care more accessible to patients.

This devotion to getting people the care they need is not limited to our own communities. HealthPartners, a Minnesota-based not-for-profit health maintenance organization, reached far beyond its traditional borders when it established an initiative to make health care accessible in Uganda, which is home to more than 27 million people, one-third of whom will die before they reach age 40. Serious diseases are common there, including AIDS, cholera. dysentery, typhoid, malaria, and intestinal parasites.

In 1997, HealthPartners began an initiative to create health co-ops to make affordable health care accessible in villages throughout Uganda. The HealthPartners team members knew they couldn't help everyone, but they could make life easier--and healthier--for some. Today, the Uganda Health Cooperatives (UHCs) cover approximately 6,000 to 7,000 members.

The monthly premium was set at $1 per member, because that is all Ugandans can afford to pay. Copayments typically cost the equivalent of 50 cents. Administrative expenses are kept to a minimum--10 percent of the premium dollar.

To operate cost-effectively, almost all record-keeping is done electronically at each site.

Because of the co-ops, many women in Uganda receive prenatal care and have their babies in a hospital. People can be treated for diseases without facing bankruptcy or being forced to sell the family cow to pay their hospital bill.

In addition to ensuring healthcare coverage for the local communities, the co-ops have made great strides in improving the overall health of the Uganda population through community partnerships. The co-ops have experienced a 22 percent decrease in fevers seen in children under the age of 2 and a 41 percent increase in pregnant women who received intermittent preventive treatment (IPT) during their last pregnancy. These types of improvements have occurred due to the co-ops' committed focus on health improvement.

"I am very proud of the commitment HealthPartners has made to our efforts in Uganda for the past l0 years, and I am personally honored to have been a part of this project from the start," says Scott A. Aebischer, senior vice president, customer service and product improvement, at HealthPartners. "Our focus on creating a self-sustaining health co-op, led by the community, will assure complete healthcare coverage for the long term."

We can all learn from the experience of HealthPartners. Let's apply our skill and imagination to making health care accessible to those who need it, inside our communities and beyond.

SHARE YOUR STORY

Are you making a difference in your organization or community? If so, we'd like to hear from you. Please send your story to Carole Bolster at cbolster@hfma.org. Future columns may include members' stories.

Mary Beth Briscoe

FHFMA, CPA

Chairman, HFMA