For Project Access, community-based primary care clinics and private physicians provide medical care homes. Medical care homes enroll and equitably refer patients to specialists and hospitals who donate their care. Community-based clinic volunteers and Medicaid specialists conduct outreach, financial assessments, and enrollments. Physician volunteer commitments and equitable patient referrals, and donated services are managed through a centralized database. Patients receive medications through existing independent and chain store pharmacies. Strong documentation, evaluations, and media relations support sustainability.

By implementing Project Access systems, communities across the nation have:

• strengthened the existing charity care already being provided by physicians and other healthcare providers;
• provided access to the full continuum of care—primary care, specialty care, medications, and hospital care and thereby improved the health of the low-income uninsured in their communities;
• better organized and connected existing private and public community resources;
• reduced improper ER utilization while drastically saving overall hospital charity costs;
• reduced the cost of per patient charity care currently being incurred by communities; and
• engaged all members and partners of the healthcare system to work more efficiently, equitably, and systematically.