Medical-legal partnership as value-based primary care: Interprofessional teamwork for health-related social needs

Today's primary care physicians are being asked to address patients' health-related social needs (HRSN) as part of their routine care practices. An aging population, with a growing complement of intersecting medical and social needs, increases this burden on primary care. Medical-legal partnerships (MLP) are interprofessional collaborations that combine clinical and legal expertise to address HRSN involving housing, public benefits, employment, and other domains remediable by civil legal assistance. A value-based approach to integrating MLP into the health system may help primary care practices more effectively address HRSN and, in turn, better balance revenue and expenses. At the practice and healthcare system levels, a key operational component is data coordination between medical and legal partners, which will enable MLP to define patient populations whose needs are amenable to legal intervention. At the state and federal levels, policy coordination will play a similar role, assessing existing authorities under Medicaid and other federal programs and advocating for data-justified enhancements. Health systems, hospitals, clinics, and primary care practices should recognize the potential for MLP to improve the value of clinical care delivery for patients with HRSN, their families, and communities.