Breaking the cycle with medical-legal partnerships: A comparison of referral and intake processes.

Medical-Legal Partnerships (MLPs) aim to improve the health of vulnerable and low-income populations by incorporating legal aid into a medical setting. MLPs entail collaboration between a legal organization (e.g., a legal aid nonprofit or a law school) and a medical organization (e.g., a hospital or a community health center). MLPs) have just marked their 20-year anniversary and, as of 2012, MLPs exist in 38 states across the United States and are established in 100 hospitals and 166 community health centers. The purpose of this research is to address MLPs" best practices for addressing environmental health issues that affect pediatric health. Specifically, this paper evaluates four MLPs' practices and policies regarding referring clients from the medical side to the legal side of the partnership and conducting client intakes. The author conducted empirical interviews with staff members at four different MLPs. It was hypothesized that intake and referral practices for substandard housing conditions is a reasonable proxy for MLP legal cases most relevant to breaking the cycle of pediatric environmental health disparities. The author found--or had access to--few housing-specific intake and referral practices and ultimately made a general comparison of referral and intake practices. While MLPs engage in the same fundamental practices, key differences exist among the interviewed MLPs. The author recommends that MLPs standardize screening and referral practices and that MLPs carefully consider their own resources when determining which intake practices to adopt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]