Free Clinics Turning Away Patients

Clinics are over whelmed with the number of patients as well as the increasing number of returned visits.  This is certainly a sign of the times of our current healthcare system getting tighter and more difficult to have access.  BD

Clinics are over whelmed with the number of patients as well as the increasing number of returned visits.  This is certainly a sign of the times of our current healthcare system getting tighter and more difficult to have access.  BD

STAMFORD, Conn., July 13, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — A new AmeriCares report has found health care clinics providing free services to the needy are experiencing such a dramatic increase in patient visits that many have been forced for the first time to turn away eligible patients because they cannot keep up with demand. More than 300 free clinics were surveyed for the report, “Addressing Resource Gaps in the U.S. Health Care Safety Net: An Assessment of the Free Clinic Network.”

According to the AmeriCares findings, 89 percent of free clinics nationally have seen a rise in patient visits within the past three years, and more than half (56 percent) have been forced to turn away eligible patients due to resource constraints such as limited medical and support staff, expensive lab tests and medications, inadequate facility space, and declining financial support.

Nation’s Free Clinics Turning Away Patients — STAMFORD, Conn., July 13, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ —