TX MLP Coalition Report: MLPs - A Scan of the Landscape and a Look Forward

The Texas MLP Coalition is excited to present an extensive report on MLPs by Kathleen Spangler, JD, MPH. Kathleen is a veteran attorney, a member of the TX MLP Coalition Executive Committee, and has been with the Coalition from nearly its inception. This report should provide anyone interested in forming an MLP a broad level of considerations and guidance.

The Medical-Legal Partnership (MLP) model is a promising innovation that delivers free legal services to low-income patient populations of hospitals, clinics, and other healthcare facilities. The MLP model recognizes that legal issues can manifest as social needs that affect health and integrates the MLP attorneys into the healthcare system. This approach involves education of healthcare professionals regarding the nexus between legal issues and health, development and use of screening tools to identify health-harming legal needs, referral of patients to MLP attorneys on-site at the healthcare facility who can provide legal advice and representation, and close collaboration between legal and health professionals to address patient needs.

This report aims to compile and synthesize existing research and the experience of attorneys working in MLPs. The author utilized the PubMed and Westlaw databases to locate relevant articles from both the medical and legal perspectives and supplemented this research with materials available from specific MLPs and organizations that study and support MLPs. Attorneys working in certain MLPs in Texas and elsewhere in the U.S. were interviewed by telephone regarding the structure and practices of their MLP.

This report will discuss the growing evidence base demonstrating need for MLPs, as well as their history, structure and practices. It will also review current research regarding their outcomes and impact, and discuss challenges and potential future directions for MLPs.

Download the report here.