What Are Epidemiological Foundations for Integrating Legal Services Into Health Care Settings?

Medical-legal partnerships vary widely in how they are structured and use data to inform service delivery.Epidemiological data on certain chronic conditions' prevalence, the incidence of potentially preventable morbidity, and health-harming legal factors also influence approaches to care.This article draws on a pediatric example of how data-driven medical care complements data-driven legal care.This article also considers medical and public health ethical frameworks to guide protected information sharing, promote optimal service delivery, and achieve the best possible medical-legal outcomes.The American Medical Association designates this journal-based CME activity for a maximum of 1 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™ available through the AMA Ed Hub TM .Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.Drawing on Data Medical-legal partnerships (MLPs) address a range of social, economic, and environmental challenges by mitigating affronts to legal rights of patients and populations (eg, poor housing conditions, denial of appropriate public benefits, inadequate special education services).The effectiveness of such collaborations among medical, legal, public health, and other sectors is bolstered by the accrual and sharing of epidemiological data on health outcomes and on health-harming legal risks (eg, living in a community dense with housing code violations). 1 Here, we highlight the importance of providing data-driven medical care alongside legal care.Cincinnati Child Health-Law Partnership Our MLP, the Cincinnati Child Health-Law Partnership (Child HeLP), links Cincinnati Children's pediatric primary care centers and the Legal Aid Society of Greater Cincinnati. 2 The founding of Child HeLP in 2008 was formalized through a memorandum of understanding.Child HeLP currently encompasses 3 pediatric primary care centers serving roughly 30 000 children, the majority of whom are low income and insured by Medicaid.Attorneys and paralegals are on-site at the largest of these clinics.At these centers, pediatric patients and their families are universally screened for social and legal risks (eg, housing instability, food insecurity) during clinic visits.Clinicians refer