Two poor communities have contrasting approaches to healthcare. One takes a collaborative approach to medicine, creating better outcomes for residents receiving treatment.
….But the clinic has several key advantages over its counterpart to the south. State leaders of both parties have worked to ensure the vast majority of Minnesota residents have health coverage, which makes it easier for the clinic to find specialists who are willing to see its patients.
A strong collaborative spirit in the state also has yielded partnerships among clinics, doctors and hospitals, as well as businesses and government leaders.
Those kinds of partnerships, a hallmark of many of the nation's healthiest places, are rarer in communities where civic traditions are weaker, particularly those with a history of segregation. Doctors and nurses at the Baton Rouge clinic describe what they call a "treat and street" mentality at some medical facilities that do just enough for poor patients to avoid running afoul of a federal law that prohibits turning away the sick.
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