Patient Assistance Fund — Making Ends Meet for Better Health

Community’s Patient Assistance Fund began in March 2017 with support from a generous donor to Community Health Network Foundation as an effort focused on Indianapolis’ east side. Today it has expanded to primary care sites across Central Indiana, providing immediate assistance to patients while bridging them to longer-term solutions for their health needs.

Basic Needs Shouldn’t be Barriers to Health

Your need for care doesn’t stop in between appointments. The daily stressors that most people take for granted can mount up to a lot of stress that detracts from your ability to focus on getting better. When the little things start to feel huge, that’s where the Patient Assistance Fund steps in.

The fund identifies patients with a Community primary care physician who may be struggling to meet their basic needs along their path to better health. Things like filling up your car’s gas tank or refilling a prescription don’t sound like a major challenge, but for someone who’s living paycheck to paycheck and needing care they can feel like a major barrier to recovery.

Together with our Pricing Support Center, we make sure that your income doesn’t stand in the way of better health. We work with you to understand your financial situation, find ways to reduce the cost of care, and offer other support where needed.

With help from the Patient Assistance Fund, members of our community have one less cost to worry about. Immediate respite comes in the form of gift cards to help them meet their everyday needs, like healthy lunches for their kids or prescription refills so they can afford what they need to advance on their path to wellness.

It’s not difficult to judge the fund’s success. It’s one more infant sleeping safely in a crib instead of a car seat. It’s a woman with asthma taking medication through a new nebulizer. And it’s a man being able to buy groceries and get connected to community resources that help him finally land a job interview after losing his job and insurance due to the pandemic.

No matter where you live across Central Indiana, Community’s Patient Assistance Fund can help you make ends meet. Because we can ensure that basic needs are met, we can truly deliver upon our promise of exceptional care.