BUILD Blog: Data-Sharing and Analysis: A Medical-Legal Model for National Success
Every year, more than 12,000 children across Washington, DC struggle with asthma. Their struggles are all too often linked to something that can be solved – like unhealthy housing.
As a result of the Opportunity Fund award from the BUILD Health Challenge, Children’s Law Center has partnered with Children’s National, AmeriHealth Caritas District of Columbia and Health Services for Children with Special Needs, Inc. to pioneer Healthy Together—one of the first medical-legal partnerships in the country.
The results of this innovative partnership were covered in The BUILD Health Challenge’s blog:
The team looked at cases over the past three years to understand what costs are being avoided every time a child stays healthy and out of the hospital because repairs were made or a family was relocated to a healthier home.
The ground-breaking research uncovered impressive results: When the Healthy Together medical-legal partnership successfully intervenes, government-funded healthcare costs are reduced by $10,000 on average during the first 18 months.
In addition to supporting more legal cases through the AmeriHealth Caritas DC contract, Children’s Law Center used the analysis and data in its testimony for the DC Council’s budget and oversight hearings with a goal to inform upstream solutions to the issues that impact children and families in DC. The testimony sparked an interest from the Chair of the DC Council’s Committee on Housing and Neighborhood Revitalization and has led to subsequent conversations that are useful in educating a key policymaker about the impact of housing on health.