family.van.blog.jpg

The Family Van, Harvard Medical School's local health clinic co-founded by Echoing Green’s President Cheryl Dorsey, has offered free counseling and tests for seventeen years to residents in Boston's low-income neighborhoods. According to the journal, BMC Medicine, a team of researchers at Harvard University studying the Family Van have found that preventive care offers an astounding economic return on investment.

Their study posits that the Family Van returns $36 for every $1 invested, saving the healthcare system nearly $20 million last year alone. Had it not been for the presence of The Family Van, researchers concluded that approximately 80 percent of the 5,000 patients would have been forced to seek treatment at a hospital emergency room. Despite being free to patients, a visit to The Family Van costs the program $117, which is far less expensive than the costs of a visit to the emergency room—which can cost up to $900 for a non-emergency visit. By eliminating these unnecessary expenses, The Family Van saves an additional $3 million in ER visits.

The most revealing finding is that treating serious illnesses including high cholesterol, obesity, and depression, The Family Van saved 17.7 million dollars in “life years,” and 245 years of actual quality of life.   

Check out this video from Boston.com to see The Family Van in action.