A Powerful Voice for Tennessee's Community and Faith-Based Healthcare Sector
Lack of access to health care comes at great cost. The families, working poor, and rural residents who cannot afford or find treatment suffer when medical conditions are left untreated. Taxpayers share the burden of costly care, such as hospitalizations, that result when people are unable to obtain timely treatment for their health conditions. Despite the advent of more affordable options for health insurance, many Tennessee residents remain without access to needed health insurance coverage or health care services. Often, these vulnerable residents are forced to choose between keeping a roof overhead and food on the table, or paying for medical expenses. Other residents live in rural and remote regions of the state, where few medical providers choose to practice.
In more than 45 communities across Tennessee, volunteer doctors, nurses, dentists, aides, and other caring individuals have stepped up to the challenge of lack of access to health care, establishing non-profit charitable clinics to provide free or reduced cost medical, dental, and mental health care services for low-income, uninsured, and underserved populations. These community-driven organizations, many located in rural and underserved communities, serve a high-need population, facing complex medical challenges. Most rely on volunteers and tap into the charitable capacity of the healthcare system, including hospital charity care, free medicines from pharmaceutical companies, and donated equipment and supplies. Charitable clinics are making a difference in the lives of Tennesseans across the state. By providing consistent, culturally-sensitive, primary care, they are minimizing inappropriate and costly utilization of emergency room services and other hospital resources.
In more than 45 communities across Tennessee, volunteer doctors, nurses, dentists, aides, and other caring individuals have stepped up to the challenge of lack of access to health care, establishing non-profit charitable clinics to provide free or reduced cost medical, dental, and mental health care services for low-income, uninsured, and underserved populations. These community-driven organizations, many located in rural and underserved communities, serve a high-need population, facing complex medical challenges. Most rely on volunteers and tap into the charitable capacity of the healthcare system, including hospital charity care, free medicines from pharmaceutical companies, and donated equipment and supplies. Charitable clinics are making a difference in the lives of Tennesseans across the state. By providing consistent, culturally-sensitive, primary care, they are minimizing inappropriate and costly utilization of emergency room services and other hospital resources.
Currently, approximately 161,000 Tennesseans fall in the “coverage gap,” meaning they make too much to qualify for TennCare and too little to be eligible for health insurance subsidies (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2014)
The Tennessee Charitable Care Network (TCCN) was established in 2014 to ensure that Tennessee’s charitable clinics are equipped to effectively respond to the health care needs of vulnerable populations now and into the future. Faced with common challenges, such as the changing healthcare landscape, limited financial resources, reliance on volunteers versus full-time staff, and a lack of training resources, key leaders within the state’s charitable clinics identified the need for a statewide membership association. TCCN was initiated by these leaders to provide a collective voice for charitable clinics, along with the resources and expertise needed to tackle shared challenges in an effective and efficient way. The leadership and collaboration provided by TCCN ensure that charitable clinics can successfully meet patient needs while navigating the changing environment, improving systems and quality, and developing services tailored to the unique needs and assets of each community.
