PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Sanders, Jim
AU  - Solberg, Bill
AU  - Gauger, Michael
TI  - Breaking Barriers to Care: A Community of Solution for Chronic Disease Management
AID  - 10.3122/jabfm.2013.03.120236
DP  - 2013 May 01
TA  - The Journal of the American Board of Family
                Medicine
PG  - 311--315
VI  - 26
IP  - 3
4099  - http://www.jabfm.org/content/26/3/311.short
4100  - http://www.jabfm.org/content/26/3/311.full
SO  - J Am Board Fam Med2013 May 01; 26
AB  - For 10 years the Medical College of Wisconsin and Columbia St. Mary's Hospital have joined together in a partnership to work within some of Milwaukee's most impoverished neighborhoods. Beginning simply by providing health care through a free clinic, the partnership soon was confronted with numerous examples of barriers to care being experienced by patients. A community-based participatory action process allowed the local population to give voice to the local realities of barriers to care. Here we combine our anecdotal clinical experience, the neighborhood's input, and an example of a successful program from a low-resource international setting to create a novel approach to treating chronic disease in uninsured populations. This model of care has been successful for 2 reasons. First, the model shows good health outcomes at low cost. Second, solid community partnerships with care providers, churches, and other groups have been formed in support of the model, ensuring its credibility and sustainability.