title: Challenges and strategies in serving the uninsured in Nashville, Tennessee.
abstract: This study identified challenges faced by a healthcare safety net system. Surveys of safety net outpatient clinic and hospital emergency department (ED) facilities and key informant interviews ascertained barriers to providing necessary client services and strategies to overcome them. About 60% of key informants responded that Medicaid cuts greatly increased the numbers of uninsured clients. The outpatient clinic and ED personnel reported that the capacity of providers to care for these increasing numbers of uninsured was primarily strained by limited referral resources for needed specialty care. The most commonly cited successful coping strategies for clinics were networking and partnering. [corrected].
authors.affiliation: The Center for Prevention Research, Tennessee State University, Nashville, Tennessee, USA. jemerson@tnstate.edu
authors.forename: Janice S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Emerson
authors.forename: Pamela C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Hull
authors.forename: Van A
authors.initials: VA
authors.lastname: Cain
authors.forename: Meggan L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Novotny
authors.forename: Celia O
authors.initials: CO
authors.lastname: Larson
authors.forename: Robert S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Levine
mesh_terms: D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006801:Humans; D017057:Medically Uninsured; D018802:Patient-Centered Care / Q000458:organization & administration; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D036301:Qualitative Research; D013714:Tennessee