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Causes: Health
Mission: Cmap's goal is to ensure appropriate medication access and education and also promote other preventive health practices among residents with limited incomes.
Programs: Medication access programs -- cmap's patient assistance program (pap) locates cmap staff near physician offices throughout cmap's primary nine-parish service area. These pap specialists complete applications for patients who are unable to afford their medication to receive free chronic care medications through drug manufacturers' patient assistance programs. The pap specialists worked with 1,341 physicians and 2,804 patients during 2016 and completed 1,996 applications at a wholesale cost savings for patients of over $2. 1 million. Patients outside of cmap's primary service area receive medications through cmap's central fill pharmacy, which as of the end of 2016 had contracts to work with and provide pharmaceuticals from twelve major companies. Cmap's pharmacy dispensed 15,363 prescriptions to 2,498 people during 2016, for a wholesale cost saving to patients of approximately $6. 3 million. In december 2013, upon the discontinuation of services at the local state hospital serving the indigent, cmap contracted with rapides regional medical center (rrmc) to provide outpatient pharmacy services to the patients of outpatient clinics established by rrmc for patients of the former state hospital. During 2016, cmap provided 11,904 free prescription medications to 2,340 patients of these clinics, saving them about $4. 5 million from wholesale prices.
cmap's healthy lifestyles program provides demonstration and education on proper nutrition and physical activity for good health and is designed to fight obesity in central louisiana. The goal of this program, through physician referral, community tools, and workplace education, is to provide central louisiana residents with resources to lead healthy lifestyles. This program is coordinated by a registered and licensed dietitian and employs an exercise specialist. Clients receive one-on-one consultation with the dietitian and exercise specialist for personalized meal planning and exercise. The program is designed to work with clients for at least 3 to 6 months, tracking their progress - eating habits, behavior changes, weight and inches lost, as well as growing in their knowledge on proper nutrition and physical activity. In 2016, 336 patients participated in the cmap healthy lifestyles program.
in 2016, in support of its supported organization's (the rapides foundation) cancer screening initiative, cmap's cancer screening project gave free mammograms, pap smears, pelvic exams and colorectal cancer tests to uninsured patients who couldn't afford these critical screenings. Its cancer screening van brought these tests to rural areas. The van, which is a partnership between the rapides foundation, cmap, the feist-weiller cancer center at lsu health sciences center -- shreveport and the lsu family medicine residency in alexandria program, saw 341 patients in 2016. The mobile van unit completed 108 pap smears, 118 pelvic exams, 329 mammograms, and 174 clinical diagnostic breast exams. Also, approximately 210 women and men received take-home colorectal cancer screening tests.
the cmap patient assistance program specialists bring the rapides foundation's tobacco prevention and control initiative into the same physician offices they support for medication access. By providing training and materials to physicians and their staff about smoking cessation referral resources, the specialists make it easy for doctors to encourage their patients to stop smoking. In late 2014, cmap partnered with the louisiana smoking cessation trust to provide tobacco cessation counseling to individuals in its service area. During 2016, 247 individuals participated in counseling. Cmap extra, a prescription-savings program designed to help lower families' medication costs, is available to everyone regardless of age or income. During 2016, 172 new individuals were enrolled in the program for a total of 10,036 participants, and 1,219 prescriptions were filled, for a total retail savings of $171,475.