A Free Clinic Builds “Bridges to Health” by Treating the Whole Patient

The Free Clinics, serving North Carolina's Henderson and Polk counties, has seen success in caring for the areas most complex patients through its Bridges to Health program. The Bridges program enables patients to discuss social and emotional issues as well as medical concerns with an integrated care team, according to Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. In the first nine months of the project, the clinic reduced per-patient ER use by 72 percent and approximately 80 percent of the participants saw underlying health conditions improve. Bridges also made improvements in social determinants of health, such as housing and employment, for patients, which has helped build robust community support for the program. The Bridges to Health Program received the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Award for Health Equity in 2017.