How to Start a Mobile Clinic: Five Questions First
Many people who want to start a mobile clinic begin with the van. It is better to begin with five questions. If you can answer them, the vehicle is a detail. If you cannot, the vehicle will not fix it.
This is general information, not legal advice. Rules differ by state, and you should ask a lawyer who knows your state before you commit to anything.
1. Who will you serve?
Start with people, not places. Who is not getting care now? It might be people who live too far from a clinic, people without a car, people who work during clinic hours, or people who do not have a regular doctor.
Be specific. "Our county" is not an answer. Something like "families in the east end of the county, who have to drive a long way to the nearest primary care office" is. Write the answer down, because every other question depends on it.
We focus on rural and semi-rural communities. Places with plenty of care close by, such as the middle of a large city, are usually not where a mobile clinic helps most.
2. Where will you park?
A mobile clinic needs a place to be. That means a spot that is safe, level and easy to find, with room for patients to wait and, often, a power connection.
The best stops are places people already go: a food bank, a church, a school, a community center, a shelter. A stop only works if the host wants you there, so this question is really about relationships. Who do you know? Who do they know? Who will say yes, and keep saying yes?
Make a short list of five possible stops and the person you would call at each one. If you cannot name the person, you do not have a stop yet.
3. Who will staff it?
A mobile clinic needs a clinician, and usually more than that. Think about who greets patients, who handles records, and who covers when someone is out.
Kentucky nurse practitioners can lead a practice, with a physician agreement for prescribing in the first years. That agreement is called a collaborative agreement: a written arrangement with a physician. Other states have different rules, and some require a physician agreement throughout. If you are a nurse practitioner, ask your state's board of nursing and a health lawyer what applies to you.
Whoever staffs the clinic, ask one more question. Who will drive it? A clinician is hired to see patients. A large vehicle needs a trained driver on the right days.
4. How will the vehicle stay on the road?
This is the question most new programs leave for later, and it is the one that parks the most clinics.
A clinic vehicle needs regular service, repairs, equipment checks and a plan for what happens when it is in the shop. Someone has to own the list, and someone has to cover the day when the vehicle cannot go out.
Write down the answer in plain words. Who keeps the vehicle running? Who keeps the equipment working? What happens on the day it breaks down?
If you do not want to build that part yourself, you are not alone. Mobile care is usually run from the top down by a hospital or a nonprofit, and it is not really a for-profit model. That is why Mobile.Clinic exists: to take the risk and frustration of owning a fleet off the operator's plate.
5. Who are your partners?
A mobile clinic does not work alone. Partners can include a hospital or health system, a clinic that receives referrals, a pharmacy, a school, and the places where you park.
Think about what each partner gives you and what each expects. A hospital may want its community health goals met. A host site may want its guests cared for. A patient may want a clinician who is there next month, too.
Good partners are earned over time. A stop that is kept every week for a year says more than a promise on paper.
Put your answers on one page
Take your answers and put them on a single page.
Who we serve:
Where we park:
Who staffs it, and who drives it:
How the vehicle stays on the road:
Our partners:
If a line is empty, that is your next piece of work. If every line is full, you are further along than most.
Where Mobile.Clinic fits
We help people and organizations start and run mobile clinic programs in the communities we call hometowns. If your page is half full, that is a good time to talk. Tell us who you are and where you want to serve, and we will start from your answers.
This page is not an offer to sell a franchise. A franchise can be offered only where the law allows, and only through the disclosure documents the law requires.
Questions first? Read the FAQs.
Comments