About the Clinic

About MAP

The Mason and Partners (MAP) Clinics are a network of nurse-managed health clinics (NMHC) affiliated with George Mason University College of Public Health (CPH) and managed by nursing faculty in collaboration with other CPH faculty. The clinics follow The Bridge Care Model, which provides access to healthcare services for patients without health insurance. Through community partnerships, the clinics focus on health education and preventative care to reduce risk and high-risk behaviors related to ongoing illnesses and chronic diseases. 

Mission

The Mason and Partners Clinics aim to improve the health status of underserved, uninsured vulnerable populations and to engage nursing, psychology, social work, health administration, health informatics, public health, and other health and human service students in direct provision of healthcare services through interprofessional service learning.

Core Values

  1. Community Partnerships: We acknowledge our vital and dynamic role in our communities. We foster growth and development in a manner that understands and serves their needs.
  2. Compassion: We provide care with dignity, concern, kindness, and respect for the diversity of our community.
  3. Fiscal and Operational Sustainability: We recognize the importance of managing resources efficiently to ensure the long-term viability of our clinics and the continuity of care for our patients.
  4. Innovation: We are committed to a supportive environment encouraging new ideas and creativity.

About the Bridge Care Model

Bridge Care is a new and innovative approach to improve access to healthcare for low-income, underserved, and uninsured patients. Bridge Care provides temporary health management services to patients awaiting placement in a permanent medical home. Bridge care is short-term, high-quality, low-cost care that addresses urgent health care needs of the uninsured population during the transition time between the initial acute point of entry into the health system until the patient is placed into an already existing community health system and/or medical home. This gap in care is well documented and often leads to inappropriate use of more costly health services, including the emergency department. Bridging this gap in health services provides unique opportunities for interprofessional health and human services education. Focusing on health education and preventative care practices during this interval can reduce risk and high-risk behaviors related to ongoing illnesses and chronic disease and help build healthy lifestyle practices.

MAP Bridge Model
The university provides a bridge to community care from the patient entering into the community health care system towards seeking a permanent medical solution. The patient undergoes brief assessment, education, support, referral, and followup. Faculty act as providers, instructors, and administrators. Students participate at the undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral levels. An interdisciplinary curriculum includes clinical student experience (GIFT Model). Direct resources include space, time, collaborators, referrals. Indirect resources include connectivity. The population served by the bridge model are the uninsured and underinsured.