Right Care Alliance - Pittsburgh

Group Information
Group Title:	Right Care Alliance - Pittsburgh
Related Topics:	Affordability Avoiding Overtreatment Cost of Care Health Equity Patient Activation Reducing Waste Social Determinants of Health Transparency
Overview & Vision:	Right Care is a human right. It places the health and wellbeing of patients first. Right Care is affordable and effective. It is compassionate, honest, and safe. Right Care brings healing and comfort to patients, and satisfaction to clinicians. Achieving Right Care will require radically transforming how care is delivered and financed. The Right Care Alliance (RCA) is a grassroots coalition of clinicians, patients, and community members organizing to make health care institutions accountable to communities and put patients, not profits, at the heart of health care. We affect change by Conducting local campaigns on right care issues such as primary care access and high drug prices Collaborating with others to identify areas of improvement within clinical specialties Speaking up about the systemic problems in our health care system through op-eds, videos, and other media Listening to experiences of community members and sharing stories Mobilizing for direct action on a national level through events like the March for Science
Leaders:	Thuy Bui Stuart Fisk Sally Jo Snyder Jonathan Weinkle
Rationale:	Users of the American healthcare system are in the unique and unenviable position of getting both too much and too little healthcare at the same time, and having the "right" care delivered to the wrong person. Yet as individuals, we may not realize that the excess costs we are saddled with are part of a larger pattern, or that our failure to receive certain standard care happens daily to others like us. We aim to connect people who have been charged hundreds of dollars for a medicine when a $4 generic is available, who cannot find a primary care doctor that takes their insurance, or that have been misunderstood and mishandled in a complex system - with each other, and with professionals who will listen to these stories and work with them to take corrective action.
Goals and Objectives:	1. To identify the most common sources of drug-cost burden for patients, and create a handbook of practical fixes that individuals can use now 2. To work with the social determinants of health groups on the network to train providers and other professionals in the healthcare system to step outside the healthcare box when an illness clearly needs a social fix, not a medical one. To create a manual for health professionals of where to turn for help in these circumstances.
Results to Date:	October 2017 "Story Slam" to identify stories about positive changes made by patients and providers in our community.
Date:	Checking... Jan 15 2018