Health systems work together on access to care

YOUNGSTOWN — The problem of caring for the burgeoning numbers of uninsured and under-insured Mahoning Valley residents has health-care competitors working together toward a solution.

Humility of Mary Health Partners and Forum Health, along with Ohio North East Health System, took lead positions in the newly formed Mahoning Valley Access to Care Network, the primary goals of which are to raise awareness about the health-care crisis and identify potential solutions.

Nine months of work by the three health-care organizations, along with Jacqueline Taylor, a research economist in Youngstown State University’s Center for Urban and Regional Studies, will culminate Friday with the first “Access to Care Community Breakfast and Summit.”

The event is from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at YSU’s Kilcawley Center Chestnut Room.

Several people have been invited to participate, from the mayors of area cities to county commissioners to hospital officials to nonprofit organizations to foundations.

The Access to Care Network was formed by the two major hospital systems, HMHP and Forum, and Ohio North East Health System “to see how we can work together collaboratively to address the medically uninsured population in our community,” said Dr. Ronald Dwinnells, ONEHS’s chief executive officer.

Read more in Sunday’s Vindicator and Vindy.com