A Guide to Developing Assistance Programs for Health Care Consumers

Publication Date: January 2003

Publisher: Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation

Author(s):

Research Area: Health

Type: Report

Coverage: United States

Abstract:

The Health Rights Hotline, based in Sacramento, California, was established in 1997 as a model to demonstrate and assess how an independent assistance program can help consumers successfully access care, navigate the health care system, and improve the system for all health care consumers.

Based on the experiences of the Health Rights Hotline, this Guide provides a framework and specific steps that organizations may take to set up a consumer assistance program. Areas covered include program design, staffing and training, outreach, collecting and analyzing data, program evaluation, and financing.

The Appendices contain a variety of documents that can be used as templates for developing budgets and requests for proposals, job descriptions, program protocols, staff and/or volunteer training programs, memorandums of understanding, and reports from data collected.