Press Release

IBC Aids National Nursing Centers Consortium

IBC Charitable Medical Care Grants Help Care for the Uninsured

Philadelphia, PA - September 15, 2004 After months of frustration and misdiagnoses — slipped disc, arthritis, depression, psychosomatic illness — the woman finally was freed from her debilitating backache. The cause of her pain?

Living in a cramped one-room apartment with her four children, the woman had been sleeping in a bathtub.

And who solved this medical mystery?

A nurse practitioner — someone who looked into the woman's background and made the connection between her home situation and her medical condition, and then sought a solution. Indeed, once the nurse practitioner helped the woman find affordable housing with beds for her and her four children, the woman s pain disappeared.

Every day, variations of this tale are repeated at nurse-managed care centers throughout the country, according to Tine Hansen-Turton, Executive Director of the National Nursing Centers Consortium (NNCC). Founded in 1996, the NNCC is an association of 100 nurse-managed health centers in 35 states. The centers treat over 1 million people annually and are dedicated to eliminating health disparities in underserved communities. Twenty-five NNCC-affiliated centers are in the Philadelphia region.

The effectiveness of the NNCC was recognized this year when Independence Blue Cross awarded the association a three-year grant through the IBC Charitable Medical Care Grant Program. "The National Nursing Centers Consortium is filling a tremendous need in our region," said G. Fred DiBona Jr., President and CEO of Independence Blue Cross. "Without them, many uninsured would have no place to turn but the emergency room — which already is overcrowded. And many other uninsured people would simply go without medical care altogether."

"We spend time building relationships with our clients, which helps them empower their own health care and their own lives," said Hansen-Turton. "The statistics speak for themselves: nurses at nurse-managed centers see patients almost twice as often as other providers; their patients are hospitalized 30 percent less and use the emergency 15 percent less often than when they see other providers."

The NNCC emphasizes the importance of listening to patients, learning about the whole person, making connections between the person's life and the state of his or her health, and offering nontraditional community-based services. Nurse-managed centers provide a crucial safety net for vulnerable and underserved populations; about half of all their patients are uninsured and many are unable to turn elsewhere for medical care.

"Nurse practitioners as primary care givers is still controversial," said Hansen-Turton. "That's why we're grateful that Independence Blue Cross has been able to support our efforts to take the politics out of nurse-managed care and focus on bringing good care to the communities that need it." NNCC will use the grant to enable sharing Best Practices among its members.

The IBC Charitable Medical Care Grant Program gives financial support for non-profit, privately funded clinics in southeastern Pennsylvania that provide free or nominal fee care to the uninsured. A three-year commitment makes grants available to support areas such as general operating expenses, unfunded pharmaceutical needs, medical supplies, specialty care, diagnostic tests, or other needs critical to the delivery of care within the clinics. To date, IBC has dedicated $2.8 million to 13 clinics over the next three years.

"These grants not only help health centers provide care for the uninsured," DiBona added, "but it also helps rein in our region's crisis in uncompensated medical care and ultimately helps control health care costs for all of our members. When the entire community is healthy, everyone benefits."

About Independence Blue Cross
Independence Blue Cross is the leading health insurer in Southeastern Pennsylvania. Nationwide, IBC and its affiliates provide coverage to nearly 3.5 million people.