The goal in years two and beyond will be to expand to other parts of the state in order to provide access to care to more meat processing workers. If there are services outside of their scope of healthcare, they can make direct referrals to allow patients to have access to the services they need. They will be providing on-site temporary mobile clinics and then offering follow-up healthcare services at their clinics or through telehealth. Since these workers lack access to certain services and do not have a medical home, Proteus will be providing access to primary healthcare to meat processing workers. Proteus currently has one facility onboard and the University of Iowa included as the research and evaluation partner. Proteus has stepped up to the plate and is launching a program that will provide healthcare to meat processing workers in Polk, Dallas, or Warren counties.An estimated 100 patients are planned to be served within the first year. Their limited access to healthcare created yet another barrier for an already vulnerable population. Meat processing workers were part of another population disproportionately impacted by COVID-19. This strategy proved itself to be successful as they saw positivity rates decline and zero deaths in 2020.The CDC recognized this success and requested that they write this model into a best practice for them to share with others. Beyond testing, they provided follow-up care, and other lifesaving services. They were able to work with state partners and test close to 3,000 farmworkers in Iowa. Over the past year, Proteus has developed and implemented a successful COVID-19 testing and mitigation strategy. What makes Proteus unique is that they are a voucher program that not only provides transportation and interpretation at visits with partner providers, but they can also pay for all or part of that service through a voucher. Once workers become patients, they have access to primary care, behavioral healthcare, and other necessary medical services such as dentistry, optometry, and other specialty services. Their decades of work with agricultural workers AND how they show up has allowed them to develop trust with their patients. has implemented a successful and unique healthcare delivery model for agricultural workers in Iowa.
Categories: News Proteus to Launch Healthcare Services to Meat Processing Workersįor over two decades, Proteus, Inc.