WIHI: On the (Virtual) Road with Mobile Clinics and Population Health

Date: September 12, 2013

Featuring:

• Nancy Oriol, MD, Dean of Students, Harvard Medical School; Co-Principal Investigator, Mobile Health Map; Co-Founder, Family Van, Boston, MA
• Leonel Lacayo, MD, Gastroenterologist, Glenwood Hospital; Co-Founder, Health Hut, Ruston, LA
• Anthony Vavasis, MD, Director of Medicine, Callen-Lorde Community Health Center, New York City, NY; Co-Principal Investigator, Mobile Health Map; Board Chair, Mobile Health Clinics Association
• Jennifer Bennet, BA, Executive Director, Family Van and Mobile Health Map
• Niñon Lewis, MS, Director, Triple Aim Initiatives, Institute for Healthcare Improvement, Cambridge, MA

 
What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you spot a mobile health clinic? Good
people, probably volunteering their time, traveling to underserved neighborhoods to offer screenings, health education, and some helpful, friendly guidance on where to go for anything more serious or chronic that should be checked out? If this is your impression, it’s fairly accurate. Except for one thing. Nowadays, more and more mobile health vans are an integral part of the health care system… especially in cities and communities where traditional bricks-and-mortar health care services are linking up with innovative community outreach programs that, together, can better manage population health.

With that as a backdrop, we hit the (virtual) road with some of the leading innovators and researchers who are injecting new fuel and purpose into more than 2,000 mobile health clinics across the US. They’re doing this by mapping what’s taking place at a range of health clinics mounted on wheels, and also by carefully investigating health issues that can be impacted and maybe even better addressed by a mobile health van. 

If we’re serious about improving population health, it’s critical to look hard at what’s
already “out there” that’s working or helping, and then determine how to strengthen its role. Mobile health clinics are increasingly one such trusted and effective resource in many communities. WIHI host Madge Kaplan and IHI’s Ninon Lewis invite you to find out the latest on mobile clinics from an expert panel of clinicians and researchers on the forefront of the issue.