What is the WFCA?
The Washington Free Clinic Association is a non-profit 501c3 organization whose mission is to strengthen and support the Free Clinics of Washington through advocacy, education and professional networking. Free Clinics are private, non-profit, community or faith-based organizations that provide medical, dental, pharmaceutical, and/or mental health services at little or no cost to uninsured and underinsured people through the use of volunteer health professionals, community volunteers, and partnerships with other health providers. There are currently 32 identified Free Clinics in Washington today and that number is growing. The WFCA estimates that Free Clinics may have had as many as 45,000 patient visits in 2008 alone.
The WFCA is currently comprised of 20 clinic members from across Washington State. To learn more about or members and other Free Clinics in Washington, click here. To learn more about services that we provide to our members, click here or contact us directly. To date, the WFCA has been primarily funded by the Office of Primary Care at the Washington State Department of Health.
The 2009 Washington Free Clinic Data Pilot
The development of free clinics has been one way Washington communities have attempted to meet growing demands for health care for low income, uninsured residents from the grass roots up. With extremely limited resources and a broad base of community support, free clinics have found innovative and efficient ways to offer high quality medical, dental, mental health, and vision services, as well as some family planning, lab services, immunizations, and pharmacy services to these underserved populations. Free clinics provide no-cost or nominal-cost, effective, holistic, primary and urgent care that helps cushion the impact on the safety net- namely hospital emergency rooms. ERs are often the only place where those in need, the worst affected by the recession, are able to go for medical and psychosocial care—a costly and cumbersome option. Free clinics are a relief valve for already crowded ERs and for the health care system in general. Should a public health emergency strike in the midst of worsening conditions, the strategic importance of free clinics would increase even more.
The severe resource shortages that typically characterize free clinic operations, limit their ability to prepare for the emergency at the door. Free clinic capacity to gather data that will allow them to better understand the growing demands of the market they serve, to plan effectively and to essentially operate from a state of readiness is virtually non-existent. The WFCA provided a leadership role in formulating, distributing and analyzing this first data project.
The report of findings of this pilot study yielded some very interesting results. To read the full report, click here.
