Oral

An increased interest in health management and disease prevention has lead to an increase in the number of mobile health clinics within many inner-city and rural communities. In a number of cases, the mobile clinics are the primary source of health care for thousands of citizens. These can include the homeless, refugees, seniors, children as well as various shelters. Providers are attracted to the flexibility and efficiency of the mobile clinic for delivering vital healthcare services, especially for underserved populations. The advancement of tele-medicine and tele-dentistry technology has helped bridge the gap between the mobile clinic and a fixed-site, and has made timely patient-professional consultation more attainable. This session will focus on the utilization of mobile clinics as an effective means of healthcare delivery, focusing on it ability to reduce healthcare disparities as well as becoming a method for public health surveillance and management. Presenters will also focus on the initial investment to acquire and use a mobile clinic and the net returns that will accrue on that investment over time. Additionally, the use of mobile health redefines the paradigm of health care delivery by delivering care directly to a patient. The advantages to this new modality of care will be demonstrated along with strategies and practices to build on this development for the future.

Session Objectives: 1. Idenitfy how a moobile helath clinic redefines health care service delivery to disadvantaged populations. 2. Describe the net return on investment after the acquisiton and use of a mobile health clinic. 3.. Describe how a mobile health clinic can be used for public health surveillance and management.