Replicating an Innovative Health Care Model for Resettled Refugees

The United States has a longstanding history of accepting refugees in search of a new life, all of whom have fled war-torn countries or cannot safely return to their home country.

Approximately 3,000-5,000 refugees per year have resettled in New York State, the majority in the upstate region. Many refugees share similar health-related challenges that make it difficult to access health care, including exposure to torture, terrorism, and lengthy stays in refugee camps, as well as language barriers. Health care clinics have either shut their doors to new refugees or have closed down altogether because of the financial burden of treating these patients. With NYHealth support, Rochester General Hospital (RGH) developed and piloted a financially sustainable refugee health care model in the Rochester area in 2009. In 2012, NYHealth awarded a second grant to replicate the successful model in Utica and Buffalo, both of which have large populations of resettled refugees.