This clinical trial will examine the effects of legal services on primary care outcomes for medically underserved communities.
The aims of the study are:
1. To test the effectiveness and cost-benefits of a critical-time intervention Medical-Legal Partnership (CTI-MLP) on patient outcomes. 2. To determine the most efficient mechanisms for CTI-MLP delivery. 3. To develop innovative community engagement strategies for addressing health-harming legal needs within community health centers.
Eligible patients will be asked to complete a questionnaire 4 times, first when they join the study and then at 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months. In the survey, they will be asked to provide information about themselves, their health care, aspects of their daily life, and hardships they face. They will also allow researchers to access their electronic health record information housed in the community-based organization and attorney notes.
Patient information will be completely confidential and de-identified, meaning, the research team will not know the identity of the person who answered the questions.
Participating community health centers will be randomized (assigned by chance) to provide basic legal information and referral to legal aid; or have an attorney on-site to provide legal aid to those who screen for legal needs.
Patients will be included in the trial if they meet all the following criteria: 1) ages 13 or older, 2) impacted by acute health-harming legal needs or risks (confirmed by screening developed in preparation for this proposal); 3) willing and able to consent to participate in the trial (including accessing EHR at the FQHC); and, 4) do not intend to relocate within the 12 months following their enrollment in the study.
Patients who do not meet the inclusion criteria will be excluded from the trial. Individuals who self-report having been sentenced to serve under state or federal custody, with a sentence to begin within 12 months from proposed enrollment in the study, will also be excluded from the trial.
Stony Brook University
Lead sponsor
University of Central Florida
Collaborator
Boston University
Collaborator
University of Puerto Rico
Collaborator