Patient Advocate Foundation’s (PAF) Health Equity Initiatives are designed to get assistance to the people and places who need it the most. We know that not everyone, everywhere, has access to the same things in the same way. Where a patient live plays a major role in determining where and how they receive care and support. In a system with unequal access to safety net services and resources, PAF allocates strategic resources to specific populations and places experiencing intense social and financial needs.

PAF developed a methodology using the Center for Disease Control’s Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) and chronic disease data, that identified 226+ counties across 36 states which have both the highest social vulnerability scores and high rates of multiple chronic disease. The Health Equity Case Management Program helps patients and their caregivers, living in the zip codes covered by the program, understand health insurance coverage options, address coverage issues, connect to resources that respond to the financial challenge of paying for care and cost of living expenses, and to access income replacement through disability enrollment support. Our approach to helping patients utilizes a combination of skilled financial advocacy, financial care planning, medical billing assistance, social needs assistance, insurance and enrollment assistance, and guidance about utilizing workplace benefits, services and supports. To establish a patient’s eligibility for services through the program, we verify the zip code of the patient’s or designated contact’s home address. All other eligibility requirements, and program operations, are the same as in our general case management program.

Current PAF Health Equity Case Management Programs:

• Health Equity Case Management
• Better Together Network to Improve Health Outcomes in South Side Chicago
• Chicago Social Needs Navigation Clinical Integration Demonstration Project
• Georgia and South Carolina patients with breast cancer, lung cancer, or prostate cancer
• Jennifer Jaff CareLine, Health Equity Among People Living with Inflammatory Bowel Disease
• Prostate Cancer, ZERO360: Comprehensive Patient Support in partnership with ZERO Prostate Cancer
• Triple Negative Breast Cancer, Allied Approach to Improving Social Needs Navigation for Black Women

Use our zip code look up tool to determine if your zip code falls within our Health Equity Case Management Program