Hartford (Conn.) Healthcare is partnering with the Mansfield-based University of Connecticut School of Law to launch a Health Equity Clinic.
The clinic will open in January and address health inequities and outcome disparities through joint medical-legal advocacy and interdisciplinary interventions, according to a Dec. 11 university news release. Here are four other things to know:
1. The clinic will be staffed by medical personnel from the hospital's primary care clinics, who will see patients, and law students, who will conduct intake interviews. Jay Sicklick, a visiting assistant clinical professor of law at the University of Connecticut, will serve as the clinic's director.
2. The facility will provide on-site and remote consultations about health-harming legal issues with a focus on adult patients who present with a history of substandard outcomes. Staff will focus on legal issues that affect outcomes, including access to healthcare, food and income security, disability discrimination and program eligibility.
3. Law students in the clinic will receive extensive training on social determinants of health and interact with patients to address legal barriers and identify systematic policy issues.
4. The clinic will be the only adult-based, medical-legal partnership in the area and one of a select group of programs in U.S.