For two decades, Project Access has connected uninsured patients in Southeast Tennessee with a comprehensive, coordinated network of donated care. Explore how more than 1,200 volunteer physicians, health centers, and hospitals have provided free, essential healthcare—offering renewed hope, dignity, and a second chance at life for over 26,000 individuals in need.
Over the next year, Dr. Cofer and Medical Foundation of Chattanooga president, Dr. Robert Bowers, convened physician champions, hospital executives, and community leaders to bring the Project Access model to Hamilton County. In April 2004, the new program enrolled its first patient.
For 20 years, Project Access has refined and sustained a coordinated care network for donated healthcare services that includes physicians, health centers, laboratories, hospitals, and other partners. The program is coordinated by the Medical Foundation of Chattanooga, with support from community donors and the Tennessee Department of Health. Due to the program’s sustained success, the Medical Foundation partnered with regional health organizations and physicians to expand the program to all counties surrounding Hamilton in 2022.
Since its inception, Project Access has made healthcare available to more than 26,000 individuals. More than $235 million in free healthcare has been donated by more than 1,200 physicians and providers through the program.
“Doctors and hospitals have always provided charity care, but it was done in a sometimes informal manner,” says Rae Bond, CEO of the Medical Foundation and Society. “Project Access makes it easy for hospitals and physicians to participate while easing the navigation of a sometimes complicated healthcare system.”
Project Access provides healthcare for residents in low-income jobs with no access to health insurance. The program also provides care to people who don’t qualify for federal or state programs such as TennCare and Medicaid but cannot obtain insurance. Project Access is open to uninsured Tennesseans with a current medical need who have a household income 150% below the poverty level and are ineligible for health insurance.
Before the program started, uninsured patients would often have to visit their primary clinic until the condition was bad enough that they would have to access specialty care through a visit to the emergency room. Through a coordinated effort with other charity partners, patients are referred to Project Access before those dire cases are too serious to treat. Project Access coordinates specialty care services for patients referred to the program by local primary care physicians and health centers. The entire time, Project Access patients never have to worry about the ability to pay for the services provided.
Project Access has made an impact in many lives, including Elizabeth, a Cleveland resident. Elizabeth had never asked for assistance before, but life had hit her hard. Her mother, father, and brother had tragically passed away in a six-month span, and she found herself uninsured and in need of medical care. “I had nothing and nobody,” she recalls.
However, Elizabeth was a fighter. A single parent and breast cancer survivor who put herself through school, her strength never wavered despite these overwhelming challenges. Initially, she sought help at the Bradley County Health Department, who referred her to Southeast Tennessee Project Access when lung cancer was discovered. Through Project Access, she was introduced to physicians who provided her with consultation and radiation treatments, ultimately leading to her being cancer-free. All services were provided at no cost to Elizabeth. She now faces one thyroid issue to take care of, but she isn’t worried.
“Once I beat this thyroid thing, I will be able to beat everything,” she says. “I was worried, but without health insurance, what do you do? The Project Access staff is professional, courteous, and goes above and beyond. They are compassionate.”
Elizabeth’s story is one of many that shows the vital role that Project Access plays in helping individuals rebuild their lives amidst adversity.
“This program speaks to the heart of compassion that you see daily in the medical community,” says Bond. “We are able to provide more time for a husband to have with a wife, more time for a family, more time to have meaningful experiences in those last days and months and years of their lives.”
Through Project Access, the healthcare community comes together to give the invaluable gift of a second chance for those most in need.
Southeast Tennessee Project Access 20 Years of Compassionate Care
- Coordinated $235.5 million in donated healthcare services since 2004
- Care provided by 1,200 volunteer physicians with area hospitals and health centers
- Hospital partnerships with CHI Memorial, Erlanger, Parkridge, and Bradley Medical Center
- Coordinates specialty care service for 30 community health centers
- More than 26,000 individuals in Southeast Tennessee have received care or have been directed to services
Youth Leadership and Educational Programs
- The Future Docs Youth Leadership Forum on Medicine was established in 2006 to encourage promising high school students to consider careers in medicine
- The Future Docs Medical Explorations program is an immersion experience for college students considering medical careers
- More than 550 students have participated in these programs since 2006
- Leadership graduates are now practicing medicine or in medical schools and residencies around the country
Community Recognition of Project Access
- 2016 Champions of Health Care Community Outreach Award
- 2012 Tennessee Medical Association Community Service Award
- 2012 WTCI Be More Educational Award
- 2012 WTCI Be More Engaging (People’s Choice) Award
- 2011 WTCI Be More Collaborative Award
