National Center for Medical-Legal Partnership (NCMLP)

Founded in 2006, the National Center for Medical-Legal Partnership (NCMLP) is based at the Milken Institute School of Public Health at the George Washington University.  NCMLP’s mission is to foster a system in which all health organizations leverage legal expertise and services to better address the health-related social needs of patients and communities.

“What do I do now that I know there is a problem?”

Screening tools are now commonly used to uncover patients’ health-related social needs. But providers are often left wondering, “What do I do now that I know there is a problem?” The health care system needs the right workforce to tackle its patients’ social problems, many of which are entrenched in complex policies and laws that require expertise in poverty law and administrative law.

MLP Embeds Lawyers as Specialists on the Health Care Team to Address Patients’ Health-Related Social Needs

Attorneys in general—and poverty lawyers in particular—have an in-depth understanding of relevant policies, laws, and systems, and seek out solutions at the individual and policy levels to a range of health-related social and legal needs. Medical-legal partnership (MLP) is a flexible, evidence-based intervention that embeds lawyers as specialists in health care settings to directly resolve specific problems for individual patients and communities. The MLP approach also helps clinical and non-clinical staff navigate policy barriers and transform institutional practices.

NCMLP Helps Health Care and Legal Professionals Join Forces to Promote Health Equity and Population Health

As the leading voice for leveraging legal services inside health organizations, NCMLP leads education, research, and technical assistance efforts to help healthcare organizations, including Health Centers, Look-Alikes, Primary Care Associations, and Health Center Controlled Networks, implement MLPs. NCMLP’s work has helped to cultivate over 500 MLPs at hospitals, academic medical centers, health centers, and primary care clinics across the U.S. These MLPs are taking action to increase health equity and improve individual and population health.

NCMLP Contact

Website: medical-legalpartnership.org  –  Sign-up for NCMLP’s newsletter

TTA Points of Contact: Bethany Hamilton, JD, Director, NCMLP, bhamilton1@gwu.edu; Reha Manikandasamy, MS, Senior Research Assistant, NCMLP, rehamanikandan@gwu.edu