The San Diego County Medical Society Foundation (SDCMSF) was awarded the 2011 Adarsh S. Mahal, MD Access to Health Care and Disparities Award at the California Medical Association (CMA) Annual Conference and CMA Foundation dinner on Sunday, October 16, 2011 for their work in addressing the unmet health care needs of uninsured patients throughout San Diego County. SDCMSF Executive, Barbara Mandel, accepted the award on behalf of the organization.

    Through its flagship program, Project Access San Diego, (PASD) the Foundation has assisted over 1,200 uninsured patients to receive specialty medical care through its network of volunteer physicians, hospitals, surgery centers, and other ancillary health services since the program’s initiation in 2009. Project Access patients are low-income adults who have no access to private health insurance through their employers, and are not eligible for public health benefits such as MediCal or CMS.

    Of San Diego’s 3.2 million residents, approximately 415,000 non-elderly adults are uninsured, and seek primary health care at one of the area’s 90 community health clinic sites; these clinics are most often unable to provide access to specialty care except through Project Access San Diego. Extremely limited access to specialty care has been identified by the County of San Diego as a major challenge in the community. To help meet this challenge, 45 patients were served at the two most recent PASD Saturday Surgery days that took place at Kaiser Permanent in Otay Mesa on October 13th and at Carlsbad Surgery Center in Carlsbad on August 28th.

    SDCMS Foundation addresses these needs through a proven model including case management, which benefits the specialty physician, primary care provider and patient.  “Our volunteer physicians are thrilled to give back to the community, with the knowledge that there is thorough follow-up with the patient’s medical home, and feel supported in their efforts,” says Stuart Cohen, MD, SDCMSF Board President. “We appreciate the recognition of CMA with this prestigious honor.”