Using Public-Private Partnerships to Mitigate Disparities in Access to Genetic Services: Lessons from Wisconsin.
OBJECTIVE
This mixed-methods study reports on an outreach clinics program designed to deliver genetic services to medically underserved communities in Wisconsin.


METHODS
We show the geographic distribution, funding patterns, and utilization trends for outreach clinics over a 20-year period. Interviews with program planners and outreach clinic staff show how external and internal constraints limited the program's capacity. We compare clinic operations to the conceptual models guiding program design.


RESULTS
Our findings show that state health officials had to scale back financial support for outreach clinic activities while healthcare providers faced increasing pressure from administrators to reduce investments in charity care. These external and internal constraints led to a decline in the overall number of patients served. We also find that redistribution of clinics to the Milwaukee area increased utilization among Hispanics but not among African-Americans. Our interviews suggest that these patterns may be a function of shortcomings embedded in the planning models.


CONCLUSIONS
Planning models have three shortcomings. First, they do not identify the mitigation of health disparities as a specific goal. Second, they fail to acknowledge that partners face escalating profit-seeking mandates that may limit their capacity to provide charity services. Finally, they underemphasize the importance of seeking trusted partners, especially in working with communities that have been historically marginalized.
There has been little discussion aboutequitablyleveraging genetic advances that improve healthcare quality and efficacy. The role of State Health Agencies in mitigating disparities in access to genetic services has been largely ignored in the sociological literature.
Department of Sociology & Anthropology and Department of Health Sciences, Northeastern, University, 360 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA, 02115.
Laura
L
Senier
Department of Sociology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1180 Observatory Drive, Madison, WI, 53705.
Matthew
M
Kearney
Department of Sociology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1180 Observatory Drive, Madison, WI, 53705.
Jason
J
Orne
genetic services; health inequalities; public health; public-private partnerships; rural health services; state health agencies