| The New York City Free Clinic (NYCFC) opened in March 2002 to help serve the healthcare needs of the nearly one in four New Yorkers lacking health insurance. The NYCFC began as a partnership between New York University School of Medicine and the Institute for Urban Family Health that to this day remains committed to providing this much needed care to the uninsured, homeless, and disenfranchised of greater New York.
The NYCFC believes that high-quality healthcare is the right of all individuals, families, and communities, and that such care must be provided regardless of socioeconomic or health status. The only criterion to receive care at the NYCFC is that one be uninsured.
The NYCFC provides at no cost to its patients the full range of healthcare services, including primary care, specialty referrals, counseling, and patient education. The NYCFC provides prescription drugs at a significantly reduced cost to the patient. The NYCFC also provides free crucial social services, such as screening and registration for government health insurance and entrance into job placement and training programs.
While providing essential healthcare, the NYCFC serves as a key access point for uninsured New Yorkers into government insurance programs. The NYCFC screens all patients for Medicare, Medicaid, and Family and Child Health Plus eligibility. When eligible, the clinic facilitates the application process to ensure successful enrollment in government insurance programs that can better provide long-term and continuous care.
Finally, the NYCFC endeavors to nurture the longstanding traditions of volunteerism and community service among healthcare professionals. The NYCFC is an all-volunteer group of medical students, undergraduates, physicians, and other healthcare professionals. The NYCFC strives to introduce the newest generation of healthcare professionals to the barriers associated with access to care for millions of New Yorkers, and to foster a collaborative team-oriented approach to addressing comprehensively the needs of the underserved and uninsured.
The NYCFC differs sharply from other New York area low-income clinics in two crucial ways. First, the NYCFC is truly free for all uninsured patients, providing all services at no cost to the patient and providing prescription drugs at a greatly reduced cost. Most other low-income clinics bill uninsured patients for services, often more than they can realistically afford, using a “sliding-scale” based on the patient's income.
Secondly, the NYCFC is the only free clinic in New York that pays for specialty referrals, providing the full range of services for free as available to any insured patient. Thus, an uninsured patient needing surgery, for example, can receive life-saving free treatment through the NYCFC specialty referrals network. Other “free” clinics also provide a diagnosis for the patient but may not then be able to offer the life-saving treatment as an affordable option.
Dates: 2006-2007
Donation: $1,000 |
