Reaching out with comprehensive care to the uninsured.

We call it the Ripple Effect: the way every contribution of time, money and expertise resonates throughout our community to improve the quality of our care and the lives of our patients. The focus of the RI Free Clinic (RIFC) is on our patients, but the fulcrum is our system of volunteers and contributors that provides free medical care to uninsured Rhode Islanders. At present, nearly 130,000 state residents live without health insurance, a problem that grows with every passing week. We provide the only free resource short of emergency treatment for uninsured Rhode Island citizens seeking comprehensive health care.

The RI Free Clinic provided over 4,000 patient visits in 2009, offering patients primary care services as well as diagnostic and laboratory services and a free pharmacy. Most of our Broad Street clinic patients are residents of Providence and surrounding areas.  Through our Physician Network, currently available in 16 communities around the state, patients see physicians in their offices and receive the same care and services as our Broad Street clinic patients, free of charge. All RI Free Clinic patients are uninsured. Nearly half (45%) are employed in jobs that do not provide health insurance, nor can they otherwise afford to purchase it.

The RI Free Clinic not only provides first rate comprehensive health care for its patients, but through its relationships with the greater network of Rhode Island’s healthcare community, we have also become an innovative and cost effective resource for medical education.

The RI Free Clinic is the only licensed ambulatory care facility in Rhode Island to serve the uninsured exclusively. RIFC draws upon a successful ten-year history of providing high quality, comprehensive primary care to adults between the ages of 19-64.

The Clinic uses a lottery to select patients, a system created to manage the overwhelming demand for healthcare from a steadily growing number of uninsured adults.

Want to learn more about our lottery system? Click here for a video.

RIFC Receives National Grant from the Kresge Foundation

Staff members of the Rhode Island Free Clinic are thrilled to announce that RIFC has been awarded a two-year grant from the Kresge Foundation.  A total of $300,000 will be distributed equally this year and next and will be used to help expand clinic hours, increase the number of patient visits and add to the number of physician volunteers.  RIFC was competing with more than three hundred other healthcare organizations from around the country for this prestigious honor.

The Kresge Foundation (www.kresge.org) is a $2.8 billion private, national foundation that seeks to influence the quality of life for future generations through its support of nonprofit organizations in six fields of interest, including health. The foundation was established in 1924 for the "promotion of human progress." Grantmaking decisions are guided by values which aim to create access and advance opportunity for low income and underserved populations.

Want to learn more? Click on the following links for recent video coverage of the award: Channel 6 News; Channel 10 News