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Advocacy and documentation resources for use at point of care

Empowering healthcare professionals to champion comprehensive patient care by tackling the social and structural determinants of health head-on, together.
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What is Docs for Health?

Watch our walkthrough video to learn how to get started using Docs for Health.
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Our mission

Health professionals use Docs for Health to support patients in accessing the insufficient resources that exist within our current system of care. The resources here are valuable and possibly life-changing, but they are the start of, not an end to, our collective work to create a system that truly supports our patients. 
Our mission is twofold:

improvePatient quality of lifeand outcomes

Paperwork alone will never lead to justice but it is a place to start. We will raise awareness of the consequences of our needs- and deficits-based systems of care by equipping health professionals with practical knowledge to support productive partnerships with patients.
Illustration of flower to represent quality of life

PROMOTE ARights-based approachto patient care

By making visible the ways our patients experience structural violence, Docs for Health contributes to the dialogue about the state of our healthcare and social service systems, where patients and professionals exist within them, and how we collectively navigate them.
Illustration of scale to represent a rights-based approach

Criminalization

There is significant evidence that incarceration worsens medical and mental health. A large proportion of people who are incarcerated suffer from mental health and substance use disorders. A correctional setting is far from the ideal place to treat these and other medical conditions. Research has found that people with mental illness and substance use disorders do better when they are treated in the community rather than in correctional settings.

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  • Waiving Existing Court Fines/Fees

    If your patient has outstanding court costs, fines, or fees that, in your assessment, impact their medical or mental health, this resource will help you to write a letter advocating for your patient’s court costs/fines/fees to be eliminated or reduced.

  • Missed Court Appearances

    If, in your assessment, your patient has missed a required court appearance due to an underlying physical or mental health condition and is at risk of facing legal punishment, this resource will help you to write a letter advocating that your patient not be penalized for missing a court date.

  • Impact of Incarceration on Health

    If incarceration will impact your patient’s medical or mental health, this resource will help you to write a letter advocating that a prison sentence not be imposed on your patient.

Gender Identity

There is ample evidence that individuals who are transgender, genderqueer, or gender non-binary may experience higher rates of mental health issues, often resulting from societal biases and stigmatization. Medical providers and members of the care team can support patients whose gender identities may differ from their sex assigned at birth.

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  • Assisting a patient with a legal Name/Gender Marker Change

    If your patient would like to legally change their name or gender marker on paperwork including birth certificate, license, or passport, this resource will assist you in writing a letter in support of this change by outlining the adverse impacts of gender dysphoria and the importance of gender affirming care.

Housing

Safe housing provides a stable foundation for patients to work on health-related goals. Without adequate housing, patients may be too preoccupied with basic survival needs to discuss longer-term health concerns. For patients with housing, ensuring that living arrangements are sensitive to health-related needs can be an ongoing challenge.

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  • Domestic Violence Housing Preference

    If your patient is a survivor of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking and is living in subsidized housing, this resource will help you to write a letter advocating for emergency transfer of housing for your patient.

  • Reasonable Accommodation Request

    If your patient has been experiencing disability-related denials, eviction notices, or is in need of home repairs, this resource will help you write letters advocating for assistance for your patients.

  • Preventing a patient's Utilities from being Shut-Off

    If your patient is seriously ill or has a disability and is at risk of having their utilities shut-off, this form will allow you to advocate for a deferral of service termination.

Immigration

Immigration status can predispose individuals to worse health outcomes in the United States due to factors such as limited insurance status and access to federal benefits, risk of detainment and deportation, and sociocultural barriers to accessing care. The experience of migration can have significant effects on patient's physical and mental health outcomes.

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  • Preventing Deportation of a patient

    If, in your assessment, deportation will impact your patient’s medical or mental health, this tool will assist you in writing a letter advocating for your patient not to be deported from the United States by immigration officials.

  • Advocating for a Family Member in another country to visit their medically sick relative

    If your patient is very medically sick and has family members residing outside of the country who are unable to visit due to immigration policies, this resource will help you write a letter advocating for the patient’s relative(s) to be allowed to temporarily visit the United States.

  • Exempting a patient who cannot learn English and/or U.S. history from the U.S. Citizenship Test

    If your patient is applying for U.S. citizenship but has a disabling condition that prevents them from learning English and/or U.S. history and civics, this form, pre-filled with easy-to-follow guidance and examples for every question, will help you provide the medical documentation necessary to support a patient's request for exemption from the English language and civics portions of the citizenship test.

Rhode Island

Resources here are specific to Rhode Island. Adaptable versions may be found in other states.

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Transportation

Travelling to appointments can be expensive, time-consuming, and unreliable. Faced with transportation challenges before every appointment, patients may find it difficult to maintain steady relationships with healthcare providers.

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explore ourDot Phrases

Unlock the power of advocacy in patient documentation with our cutting-edge repository of evidence-based dot phrases, equipping you with ready-to-use language for impactful care.
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Get in touch

Feedback on our tools? Thoughts on how to create a system that is sustainable and empowering both for our patients and for us as health professionals? Send us a message.
Please note that we are a small team of volunteers and therefore may be unable to respond to all messages received.

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    Or email us directly at
    community@docsforhealth.org