Frequently Asked Questions

• Many physicians, dentists and other health care providers are already caring for uninsured patients; others would gladly help meet this need if the burden is shared among the majority of providers.
• Project Access was designed by physicians and hospital leaders from within our own community. There is a special focus on the fundamental values of their profession; to demonstrate their commitment to improve the health of our community in a way that is organized, efficient and properly recognized.

• Project Access patients are scheduled like other patients.
• Each enrolled patient is issued a patient identification card and is instructed to present this card at each appointment, just like any other health benefits card.
• Project Access patients are seen in your office and are provided the same care as any other patient.
• You decide what services are needed for the patient; no pre-certification is required.

• Specialist referrals should be coordinated through the Project Access office.
• Call the Project Access staff to request a participating physician in the specialty needed for your patient.
• Project Access will assign the next available specialist.
• You may call the assigned specialist to schedule an appointment for your patient.
• If a patient is already established with a physician in the specialty requested, Project Access is unable to identify a new physician for a new referral. Project Access should not interfere with that doctor-patient relationship. The patient should return to the established physician even if that physician does not participate in the program.
• Every effort is made to respect stable doctor-patient relationships.

• After you have finished seeing a Project Access patient who has been referred to you, please communicate with the referring physician or practitioner just as you do for any other patient in your practice.
• Your billing staff should submit a HCFA 1500 billing form to the Project Access office in the same way they customarily do for insurance plans.
• While you will receive no payment, this form gives us a complete record of the services provided and the value of the care you have donated on behalf of the patient. We aggregate this information and report to the community the care physicians, hospitals and other providers have donated.

• Together with the patient you will decide how many visits are needed.
• Patients may be seen as often as you deem appropriate to be sure their health care needs are met.
• Patients are enrolled for six month periods.
• If ongoing care is needed, patients’ enrollments may be extended at the request of their treating physicians, as long as the patient continues to meet eligibility requirements.

• If a Project Access patient needs diagnostic tests such as laboratory studies or x-rays, you may choose to donate these if you regularly provide these in your office.
• If you normally refer patients to facilities outside your office for testing or physical therapy, please refer Project Access patients to the same facilities as you would any of your patients.  However, some may not participate and in those instances, patients will be billed for those services.
• Please call the Project Access office for assistance if you do not have a physical therapy provider or for other needs.

Area hospitals donate inpatient and outpatient services for Project Access enrollees, at no cost to the patient (emergency department services and inpatient psychiatric care are not included); you simply admit the patient just like any other patient.

Participating area hospitals include:

• Via Christi Hospitals
• Wesley Medical Center
• Kansas Heart Hospital
• Kansas Surgery and Recovery Center
• Cypress Surgery Center
• Kansas Spine Hospital

• Project Access enrollees receive a prescription identification card at the time of enrollment.
• Patients can fill prescriptions at area pharmacies and pay a minimal copay per prescription which is applied toward the cost of the medication.
• The program covers generic prescriptions and some name brands including insulins and diabetic supplies, asthma inhalers, Epi Pens, Tamiflu and a few others.
• Participating pharmacists fill prescriptions based on a maximum allowable cost (MAC) list.

• Yes it does and THANK YOU!
• With your help, we hope to record and recognize this service.
• The number of low-income, uninsured patients you are already seeing can be counted toward your Project Access pledge, if you wish to refer them for enrollment.
• Simply complete and fax the patient referral form (provided to you after you submit the physician commitment card).
• By enrolling your patients and committing to donate the care you provide them, you receive recognition and the ability to access, on their behalf, other donated services through the program such as hospitalization, access to other specialists and medication and durable medical equipment assistance.

• Project Access maintains a computerized referral system to ensure that only the number of Project Access patients that you have agreed to accept will be referred to you.
• Referrals are rotated among the physicians and other providers to assure fair distribution of patients to all the participating physicians.
• Project Access will follow your instructions about how many patients you wish to receive (on an annual basis).  We will track the patients you refer for enrollment and/or those referred to you.

• Through the Kansas Department of Health and Environment’s Charitable Health Care Provider (CHCP) Program, health care providers who donate care to the medically indigent may be included for liability purposes under the Kansas Tort Claims Act special liability expense fund.  This means those charitable health care providers are defended by the Attorney General’s office and the Kansas Tort Claims fund will be the payer of the first resort, even if another policy of professional liability insurance exists.
• The CHCP Program is particularly valuable for retired physicians who might wish to volunteer their services in an existing community care clinic but no longer maintain their own malpractice coverage.
• Project Access is a point of enrollment for the CHCP Program.  The CHCP Program enrollment form is provided with your Project Access information packet.  Please return the completed form with your signed commitment card.  Project Access staff will file it with the CHCP Program office and will ensure that an annual report of Project Access providers’ care is submitted.

Project Access helps you put your physician compassion into action. Here is how you can help (these are just recommendations):

• Specialist physicians: Accept 20 Project Access patient referrals per year.
• Primary care physicians: Accept 10 Project Access patients per year.
• Dentists: Accept 12 Project Access patients per year.
• Volunteer at area community care clinics: Volunteer for 24 hours during the year. Clinics need volunteer time and expertise from specialists, primary care physicians, retired physicians, dentists and others.
• Recruit physicians or participate in the planning, operation, or evaluation of the program.

Project Access tracks and reports all the care that is donated and ensures that the media and others hear the message. Each year, the program implements various recognition plans (notices in the MSSC newsletter, letters of thanks sent to physician offices, newspaper articles, etc) to thank our providers for committing to be part of increasing access to care, improving health outcomes and reducing costs for care for the uninsured.