In Oregon, patients are queuing to visit with nurse practitioners to get their annual wellness checks, ask about a lingering earache, or receive routine dental care. But these patients aren’t waiting in line at a make-shift doctor’s office. They are in a church parking lot at a mobile health clinic.
Mobile health clinics like the one used by La Clinica in Oregon are becoming increasingly popular, and they have been key for expanding access to care for vulnerable populations.
About 17 percent of patients don’t have a regular place to access healthcare, according to a CDC report from 2016, the most recent year for which the agency has data. This leaves millions of patients without access to necessary preventive or primary care, and the healthcare industry susceptible to costly acute care episodes stemming from irregular health management…..more
