In May, members of St. Therese Catholic Church in Aurora, Colorado, a part of PICO affiliate Metro Organizations for People (MOP), held a meeting with representatives from area hospitals to press for greater access to, and affordability of, health care for low income and uninsured or underinsured patients. 

In 2007, MOP leaders at St. Therese initiated a parish wide listening campaign that identified health care as the number one concern within the congregation. After researching care practices at Aurora's three hospitals, the St. Therese leaders decided to ask them to improve care for the uninsured by taking three specific actions:

• giving a 40 percent write-off on self-pay accounts of uninsured patients,
• establishing (or continuing) a no-cap policy on charity care, and
• modifying their billing practices to extend payments up to five years.

St. Therese won commitments from each of the hospitals to meet with the organizing committee on a quarterly basis to find agreement on their specific requests.

In addition, MOP leaders won a commitment from the hospitals to support the implementation of school based clinics in Aurora's public schools. School based clinics will provide medical homes to hundreds of Aurora children and help reduce the visits to Aurora Emergency Departments by uninsured families who put off critical medical care because they cannot afford doctor visits.

For more information on Metro Organizations for People (MOP), visit www.mopdenver.org