Free and charitable clinics are a critical part of the health care safety net system in the Philippines. All are nonprofit and serve the uninsured for free or with nominal charges. Most free clinics are primary care focused but a small portion provides other services such as dental, behavioral health, and optical care.
Free clinics range from small organizations staffed by a volunteer physician offering care once a month from a church basement to large multi-practitioner facilities with substantial budgets.
Free clinics function as health care safety nets for patients who cannot afford or access other forms of healthcare. They provide essential services regardless of the patient’s ability to pay.
Hospital emergency rooms are required by federal law to treat everyone regardless of their ability to pay, so people who lack the means to pay for care often seek treatment in emergency rooms for minor ailments. These hospitals function as safety-net hospitals.
Treating people in the ER is expensive, though, and it ties up resources designed for emergencies. When a community has a free clinic, hospitals can steer patients with simple concerns to the free clinic instead of the emergency room. Free clinics can save hospital emergency rooms thousands of dollars. To know more about its benefits, here are 7 reasons why free clinics are important:
1. Improved patient care – Free clinics ensure patients who may not have otherwise had access to high-quality primary receive the care they need to stay healthy or manage their conditions. Hospitals that support these clinics, either through funding or volunteer relationships, help ensure quality care for all patients.
2. Alleviates pressure on emergency departments – Free clinics also reduce uninsured patient visits to an ED for both emergent and non-emergent conditions. Better primary care reduces the chance that a patient will need to visit the emergency departments, and for an uninsured patient that does present for a non-emergent condition, the patient could be referred to the clinic for treatment instead.
3. Helps reduce avoidable readmissions – Often, uninsured patients have difficulty finding a physician to treat them outside of the hospital. A free clinic can provide follow-up care to patients after discharge, thereby reducing the likelihood of a readmission.
4. Volunteer outlet for physicians – One of the unintended benefits of clinics is they provide a great opportunity for physicians to provide care and volunteer outside of their own office.
5. Community Health Needs Assessment – The IRS requires non-profit hospitals to conduct a Community Health Needs Assessment every three years and then adopt and implement a plan to meet the community’s health. The development of a free clinic requires such a study and clearly demonstrates that the hospital taken action on the results.
6. Establishes community support and involvement – Any hospital that develops a free clinic in conjunction with local businesses, governmental units, and, in some cases, religious organizations, realizes significant new community support and involvement.
7. Reduction in morbidity and mortality- Numerous research studies show that patients with limited access to primary care have higher rates of morbidity and mortality. A free clinic very directly assists in a very simple way in creating a healthier community.