Project Access of Wake County seeks more volunteer physicians
Triangle Business Journal - by James Gallagher
RALEIGH – Project Access of Wake County is looking for more physicians willing to volunteer their time as the organization is being swamped with patients in search of charity care.
During the first three months of the year, Project Access’ new patient enrollment hit 1,080 – up 36.7 percent from 790 from the year before. The nonprofit organization, which is a service of the Wake County Medical Society, arranges for private physicians to provide free specialty care to patients who are receiving primary care from free clinics in the county.
Pam Carpenter, Project Access’ manager, says she is looking for additional physicians to offer their services while at the same time asking those who already are volunteering to do more.
“I told them, there are now 80,000 uninsured in Wake County. Is there any way you can take on new patients?” she says.
Many physician groups in the county already work with Project Access to offer free services, but they have their limits.
At the Cancer Centers of North Carolina, for example, each physician has agreed to take on two Project Access patients each year.
Sheri Dyke, the practice’s administrator, says the charity care costs about $500,000 a year in physician time and treatments.
Prior to this year, Cancer Centers has made more physician time available than was cashed in by Project Access. But given the growing number of uninsured, the practice could hit capacity this year.
Physicians with Raleigh Orthopaedic Clinic see 10 to 12 patients each year – work valued at about $300,000 annually, says practice manager Karl Stein. “We feel it’s an obligation,” Stein says. “It’s our chance to provide something to the community.”
While Stein says the practice usually doesn’t turn away patients, he has not approached the physicians in the practice about upping the work they do for Project Access.
Physician practices themselves are seeing more patients who cannot pay walk through their doors, and Stein expects the number to increase.
Project Access of Durham County opened its doors in July. Director Sally Wilson says she’s already trying to line up more endocrinologists and gastroenterologists as demand for those specialties seems to be greater than the supply of physicians in the network.
Orange County does not have a Project Access coalition, as UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill and its physicians are required by the state to provide care to those who can’t pay.
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