Patient assistance at UW Health
“Our families are traveling between the hospital and home regularly and transportation expenses can add up quickly. The program allows us to provide families some financial relief”
Each year, thousands of UW Health adult and pediatric patients and their families receive assistance for non-medical needs or expenses not covered by insurance. This includes support such as rent and mortgage assistance, utility payments, durable medical equipment, hotel stays, gas cards and other transportation costs. Supported through philanthropy, our patient and family assistance program is crucial in improving outcomes for many of the most vulnerable patients. It works to reduce health inequities by directly addressing the economic factors influencing health and recovery.
Members of our outstanding care team, including physicians, nurses, and social workers, collaborate to identify the immediate needs of patients within our system. When patients and their family members are in urgent need of support, a coordinated effort is set in motion to assess which essential services may be needed to ensure the best possible care. The need for housing, transportation, medical equipment, and food and rent assistance is evaluated on a case-by-case basis, and an appropriate plan is made for the patient or family in need, in some cases working with community resources.
For example, our social work team assisted a 35-year-old, who lost his job in December after not being able to work for a month related to injuries and pain sustained in a car accident. Through the patient support fund, UW Health was able to cover two months of rent assistance. His injuries from the accident are improving and with the financial support, he was able to get back on his feet again and find employment.
Lisa Heinrichs, a social worker at American Family Children’s Hospital, recognizes the merit of the gas card program to pediatric patients and their families. “We currently have three children in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit who are waiting for heart transplants. It can take many months, and possibly a year for a heart to become available. Our families are traveling between the hospital and home regularly and transportation expenses can add up quickly. The program allows us to provide families some financial relief.”
Through philanthropic investment, we can continue to stabilize patients in urgent situations and provide a referral to established community partners to address long-term needs.