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Last August, the Lansing-based
Michigan Consumers for Healthcare
(MCH), a broad coalition of health care
nonprofits, received $1.6 million in federal
grants to help Michiganders navigate the
acquisition of health insurance. Project
Chessed received $35,000 of that grant to
train its staff and two full-time ACA navi-
gators for Oakland and Macomb county
residents over the six-month enrollment
period.
"They came to us because we were
familiar with much of the process in our
own work:' said Shaindle Braunstein,
Project Chessed director. "A major differ-
ence is that physician care was entirely vol-
unteers in our program and that portion is
now insured under the ACA:'
"When Peggy called for help to register
online for the Affordable Care Act, I invit-
ed her to attend the Dec. 22 [registration]
event at the Jewish Community Center:'
said Megan Pudlik, ACA-trained navigator
and Project Chessed case coordinator.
The event was open to all who needed
help registering. Scheduled for 10 a.m. to 4
p.m., the last person left at 6:30 p.m.
"Peggy was one of the first to walk in
the door:' Pudik said. "She had already
completed some of the work; once we
figured out her subsidies and tax credit,
several available plans popped up. Peggy
wanted to stay with her current physician
so we found providers who accepted that
doctor:'
Berman said, "It was confusing figuring
out which bracket I belonged in and what
coverage I needed. The navigators patient-
ly made everything very clear. You can tell
it's not just their job; they really care:'
Pudik said, "I was blown away by the
number of phone calls we received out-
side the Jewish community asking for
help. One woman arrived with no health
insurance for six years. She was raising
her 13-year-old son and was extremely
skeptical about finding a plan. We ended
up finding a plan that met her needs for 11
cents a month:'
Jewish Uninsured
"Throughout its history, Jewish Family
Service has been in the business of helping
members of the Jewish community sur-
vive, whether the issue is housing, health
Ruthan Brodsky I Contributing Writer
P hoto by Jerry Zo ly nsky
TRANSITION
j FS' successful Project Chessed
is phasing out with Obamacare.
The Prescription Solution
Megan Pudlik, ACA navigator and Project Chessed case manager
care or making
ends meet:' said
Perry Ohren, CEO
of JFS. "About 12
years ago, we real-
ized many in the
Jewish community
were going without
health care because
they couldn't
Perry Ohren
afford to pay for
it. Following some
discussion, the
Jewish Fund [established with the 1997
proceeds from the sale of Sinai Hospital]
provided funding for a feasibility study to
determine if this was a legitimate problem
in our community and health care assis-
tance was needed:'
The need was real. Project Chessed
(Hebrew for "acts of lovingkindness") was
established to cover the large number of
Jewish adults in Metro Detroit not covered
by health insurance. Part of the problem
was that many low-income individuals
without private health
insurance did not have
an income low enough to
qualify for Medicaid.
"The result was a col-
laborative effort among
JFS, Federation and other
community organiza-
Margo Pernick tions to find a solution to
this problem:' said Margo Pernick, direc-
tor of the Jewish Fund. "The goal was to
find a respectful approach to health care
that kept clients healthy and independent:'
Ohren explained, "JFS never thought
of itself as a resource for access to health
care, but rather as a service agency often
used as a safety net when there were no
other resources. We figured out an elo-
quent solution that only worked if we
could cobble together volunteer hospitals,
physicians and pharmacies. Our efforts
resulted in more than 1,000 volunteer
Jewish doctors providing pro-bono ser-
vices to our clients, leveraging millions of
dollars in free care:'
Project Chessed also partnered with sev-
eral local hospitals that were compensated
by the state for providing care to a dispro-
portionate number of uninsured patients
as regulated by the Disproportionate Share
Hospital (DSH) program. Commonly
referred to as safety net hospitals, they
included public and private hospitals,
children's hospitals and university hospital
systems.
"Project Chessed established good part-
nerships with these hospitals because we
did all of the required paperwork for our
clients, making sure they were eligible for
the program and any document required
was on file Ohren said. "Obtaining phar-
maceuticals at the lowest cost possible was
the third major part of our solution:'
Mindi Fynke, founder and CEO of
Employee Health Insurance Management
(EHIM) in Southfield, was honored
by Jewish Family Service as the 2013
Community Partner of the Year for her
work in support of Project Chessed.
Due to the escalat-
ing costs of prescription
drugs, Project Chessed
started working with
EHIM in 2006. EHIM
excels in negotiating
rates for medications
with pharmacies and
established a formulary
Mindi Fynke
listing medications to
treat Chessed clients.
Doctors prescribed
medications for many conditions from this
list and Chessed patients obtained them
at local pharmacies that partnered with
Chessed.
"We established a formulary of drugs
that helped promote generics whenever
possible Fynke said. "Reaching a 90
percent generic utilization rate permitted
Project Chessed to stretch its dollars and
reach more people in need. We were also
able to use our systems and technology to
make the administration of the program
much easier:'
Providing every Chessed participant
with his or her own ID card, which resem-
bled an insurance card, was one key to the
overall mission.
"Our goal was to ensure that Project
Chessed members were treated with
dignity:' Fynke said. "While an ID card
may sound like a simple thing, it allowed
clients to know they were part of a com-
munity in which doctors, pharmacies and
other medical care providers treated them
with respect.
"Our goal was to service as many
individuals as possible in the most cost-
effective way:' Fynke said. "For me, Project
Chessed redefined caring:'
There were fundraising events and
individual donors, but primary sup-
port for Project Chessed came from the
Jewish Fund and the Jewish Federation of
Metropolitan Detroit.
"Project Chessed was a huge success
story because it fulfilled an enormous
need without having to create new insti-
tutions, and we were happy to be part of
Healthcare on page 10
8 January 23 • 2014