Wisconsin Medical Journal Article Explores MHCP SAUP as a Sustainable Framework for Uninsured Specialty Access
Securing access to specialty care for low-income, uninsured individuals is a complex and intractable issue. There are many barriers to receiving specialty care in a timely and coordinated manner, even for those with an established medical home and health insurance coverage.
A recent article published in the Wisconsin Medical Journal, Managing Access to Medical Specialists for the Uninsured: Specialty Access for the Uninsured Program, explores an innovative Milwaukee Health Care Partnership (MHCP) program designed to create a barrier-free, coordinated process to better connect and case-manage uninsured patients with specialty care at no cost to the patient.
Authored by Katrina Gonzalez, MD; Greg Stadter, MPH (former MHCP Director of Access); Theresa Umhoefer Wittry, MD; and Ann Christiansen, MPH (current MHCP Executive Director), the article examines the process and framework for implementing SAUP, as well as its overall programmatic success and sustainability within a current unsustainable specialty access system.
Through MHCP, the four Milwaukee health systems – Aurora Health Care, Ascension Wisconsin, Children’s Wisconsin, and Froedtert ThedaCare – established SAUP in 2012. As demonstrated in the article, SAUP improves the efficiency and effectiveness of care between health partners and offers timely, managed, and clinically appropriate access to specialty care for uninsured patients who are established in a primary care medical home at one of Milwaukee’s eleven participating safety-net clinics. More broadly, the program offers a sustainable framework for communities with high uninsured rates, benefiting patients, safety-net clinic providers, and hospital providers.
In 2025 alone, the three adult health systems have guided more than 2,071 referrals for specialty services, from cancer treatment to vascular surgery, with a 93% show rate.
Read the full article here: https://mkehcp.org/publication/managing-access-to-medical-specialists-for-the-uninsured-specialty-access-for-the-uninsured-program/