Kapiolani Medical Center Partners with UH Law School to Provide Medical-Legal Support for Patients

Kapiolani Medical Center for Women & Children and the William S. Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawaii at Manoa recently celebrated the launch of a pilot program that provides legal services to Kapiolani patients and their families as well as education and training on legal matters for medical center staff and providers.

The Medical-Legal Partnership for Children in Hawaii (MLPC) is a unique initiative that addresses and improves the social determinants of health that impact child and family well-being by engaging in "preventive legal care" alongside "preventive health care." It pairs legal professionals with health care providers to tackle issues affecting patients' overall health and well-being.

"When you think of all the work that Hawaii Pacific Health is doing to address the social determinants of health in our community, this program exemplifies a partnership that has the potential to directly improve the lives of our patients," said Mike Robinson, HPH vice president of government relations and community affairs. "This partnership between Department of Health, UH William S. Richardson School of Law and Kapiolani Medical Center demonstrates how shared goals across different institutions can come together to provide invaluable services to assist some of our most underserved patients. This is especially momentous as it marks the first formal partnership between Kapiolani Medical Center and the UH William S. Richardson School of Law formed in service to our patients."

What is the MLPC in Hawaii?

The MLPC program in Hawaii is part of a national network of about 450 medical-legal partnership sites across the country. Following the national medical-legal partnership model, the MLPC program in Hawaii engages in three core activities: providing direct legal services embedded in the health care setting; transforming legal and health practice through professional education and training for health care professionals; and addressing systemic advocacy issues, including policy change, community empowerment and professional training.

"The MLPC program in Hawaii has been advocating and providing invaluable resources to some of our most-vulnerable families in Hawaii for years, and we are proud to now be piloting this program at Kapiolani Medical Center," said Melody Kilcommons, Kapiolani director of operations. "So many people came together to help make this happen, and I'd like to especially recognize Kapiolani Case Management Manager Chris Robbins for her leadership in helping get this off the ground. The legal guidance this program provides our Case Management and Social Work teams as well as our care providers​ gives us more confidence in our ability to help patients address issues such as struggling with food insecurity, housing instability, language barriers and accessing government assistance."

"We work together to identify the legal issues behind the health issues and see our lawyers as members of the patients' health care team," said Dina Shek, legal director of the MLPC program in Hawaii and faculty specialist at the UH School of Law, in explaining the medical-legal partnership model and how program lawyers are specialists embedded in the medical center.

"We are beyond grateful for this endeavor and partnership with Kapiolani Medical Center for Women & Children, and I look forward to seeing all that we can do together."

How This Innovative Partnership is Already Positively Impacting Patients and Families

Thanks to the collaborative efforts of the Kapiolani social work team and the MLPC program's attorney, Kapiolani patients and families have received assistance with navigating a variety of complex medical-legal issues, including facilitating safe discharge from the hospital by ensuring reasonable accommodation requests in public housing, resolving vital documents issues and gaining approvals for public benefits.

"This partnership with the UH School of Law has been a gamechanger for the entire social work department," said Waynell Hee-Goodman, Kapiolani manager of medical social services. "The attorney has been a vital part of our Kapiolani team. In the past, we looked at challenges strictly through a clinical lens. Now, knowing legally what is expected empowers our patients so they can navigate the process for state or federal benefits more quickly."

The new MLPC program site at Kapiolani was funded by the Hawaii Department of Health through a grant to address health disparities and advance health equity, and a new federal grant under the Medical-Legal Partnership Plus program. This partnership builds on the MLPC's long-standing relationship with Kokua Kalihi Valley Comprehensive Family Services (KKV).

Since 2009, the MLPC has worked closely with KKV to provide free legal services to low-income families, focusing on medical-legal issues like housing stability, income support and family law. KKV's leadership team was also instrumental in helping to get the program off the ground at Kapiolani, including meeting with Kapiolani's team to provide guidance.

The MLPC program in Hawaii has served nearly 2,000 families since its founding and is now helping even more through this partnership with Kapiolani.

"Community partnerships in both education and patient care are timeless and have progressively improved the health and well-being of Hawaii's people over many generations," said Dr. Ken Nakamura, Hawaii Pacific Health Medical Group chief of pediatrics. "This is part of Hawaii Pacific Health's mission to create healthier communities – not just for some, but for all our people."

Read more about impact of the MLPC program and the support it provides for Hawaii families.

Published on: December 19, 2024