Free Clinics
1[FREE COMMUNITY HEALTH CLINIC]
Healthcare Policy and Financing Western Governors University Funding and Implementing a Free Community Healthcare Clinic in Milwaukee, Wisconsin Rachel Trabelsi
2
[FREE
COMMUNITY HEALTH CLINIC]
A hospital emergency department is open twenty-‐four hours a day and is required by law to treat anyone having a medical emergency that includes a full evaluation of anyone for any reason that they come to the hospital to be treated for. A recent evaluation in Colorado looked at 10,000 Emergency room visits and found that 44% of those visits could have been treated in an MD office. (Imse, 2013)
Milwaukee, Wisconsin is likely to have a similar evaluation to the use of emergency care as in Colorado. The American culture in all the states has become one that uses emergency care for non-‐emergent needs. Joy Tapper, Director of the Milwaukee Care Partnership, best noted the issues faced in the Milwaukee healthcare environment.
Ms. Tapper said that while Milwaukee has a rich asset of health providers and health resources the issue is with underserved populations being
Healthcare Policy and Financing Western Governors University Funding and Implementing a Free Community Healthcare Clinic in Milwaukee, Wisconsin Rachel Trabelsi
2
[FREE
COMMUNITY HEALTH CLINIC]
A hospital emergency department is open twenty-‐four hours a day and is required by law to treat anyone having a medical emergency that includes a full evaluation of anyone for any reason that they come to the hospital to be treated for. A recent evaluation in Colorado looked at 10,000 Emergency room visits and found that 44% of those visits could have been treated in an MD office. (Imse, 2013)
Milwaukee, Wisconsin is likely to have a similar evaluation to the use of emergency care as in Colorado. The American culture in all the states has become one that uses emergency care for non-‐emergent needs. Joy Tapper, Director of the Milwaukee Care Partnership, best noted the issues faced in the Milwaukee healthcare environment.
Ms. Tapper said that while Milwaukee has a rich asset of health providers and health resources the issue is with underserved populations being