As part of its effort to increase access to quality health care for all Americans, the GE Foundation is continuing to generously support the AmeriCares U.S. Medical Assistance Program. The grant expands the reach of GE’s Developing Health program which drives GE’s “healthymagination” initiative, a commitment to help change the world’s approach to health care by lowering costs, touching more lives, and improving quality.

The partnership represents an investment from GE of IT expertise, marketing resources, and financial support. It has led to a dramatic increase in the number of free clinics served by AmeriCares. New efficiencies have allowed AmeriCares to more accurately address the urgent needs of the uninsured and resource gaps within the U.S. health care safety net.

Together we have taken great strides toward realizing our shared commitment of better health for more people. The success of the program is directly linked to the resources provided by the GE Foundation. We will continue to focus on increasing the capacity of free clinics, sharing expertise, increasing resources, and redefining chronic disease management for uninsured Americans.

Our productive partnership will continue to build on the strategic program initiatives achieved to date. Milestones include:

• Launch of U.S. Access, an online product ordering system that displays AmeriCares inventory in real time to increase the efficiency and accuracy of clinic requests and allow clinics to match inventory against their medical supply needs
• Development of Free Clinics Today, an interactive website providing free clinics with a resource library of how-to guides, case studies, and tools to support program planning and expansion
• Establishment of a Chronic Disease Initiative to increase access to essential medicines and educational materials for the treatment and management of chronic diseases
• Completion of site visits to over 50 clinics in 22 states to better understand the needs of our partners
  
  

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 The GE Foundation also funded a recent AmeriCares report, Addressing Resource Gaps in the U.S. Health Care Safety Net. More than 300 clinics were surveyed and results confirmed the increasing needs of the uninsured and underinsured patient population. The data are being used to inform the continued expansion of our U.S. Medical Assistance Program and to highlight the needs of our free clinic network.

GE is a long-time supporter of AmeriCares. In 2010, GE partnered with AmeriCares to construct a transitional field hospital in Angol, Chile after an 8.8 magnitude earthquake destroyed an important regional hospital. The hospital is now fully operational with a 50-patient capacity primarily supporting maternal and infant health care needs.

Click here to read the report.