Access to Healthcare

At Osborne, we have daily evidence of the health challenges our participants face and the barriers that stand between them and the medical care they need. In addition to our specialized programs for older adults, people with substance use disorders, and people living with HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis-C, we connect our participants to high-quality preventive, primary, and specialty healthcare.

Osborne employs enrollment specialists who can link participants to Medicaid, SNAP, Cash Assistance, and other government benefits through our partnership with ACCESS HRA. They are also experts at navigating the challenges presented when people leave prison or jail without IDs or other needed documentation. Through New York City’s Health Justice Network, we employ a community health worker who shares our participants’ backgrounds and can help them navigate the sometimes bewildering elements of our healthcare system. We also ensure high-quality care for our participants by building partnerships with hospitals, clinics, and individual health care providers. As one example, Osborne assisted in the creation of the Montefiore Medical Center Open Access Transitions Clinic in the Bronx. Our staff travel with participants directly from prison or jail to this welcoming health center.

As new challenges emerge, our health access services adapt. This has meant arranging telehealth appointments for our participants during the Covid-19 shutdown and employing community members in NYC’s Test and Trace program, through which they conduct outreach and education about coronavirus testing, vaccinations, and give away PPE supplies.