When the Rhode Island Music Hall of Fame went searching for affordable healthcare for the state’s hundreds of uninsured musicians, they turned to Dr. Zaher Shah ’86.
Four years ago, Shah, a board-certified internist, decided to attend law school. That experience caused him to view health care from a new perspective—one that challenged the status quo. That challenge led to his establishing the Access Basic Care (ABC) Initiative, a collaboration of healthcare providers, including primary care physicians, internists, physician assistants, radiologists, a major laboratory, and Stop & Shop Pharmacy.
By eliminating insurance companies and other middlemen standing between patients and their doctors, Shah says,
ABC Initiative practitioners are able to deliver basic healthcare for $45 per month. That fee includes urgent care, unlimited scheduled appointments and sick visits, an annual physical, and affordable prescriptions. There are no exclusions for pre-existing conditions.
“We’re giving patients without insurance or patients whose insurance carries high deductibles a common-sense plan that allows them to get their basic health care for a reasonable fee,” Shah says of the two Rhode Island clinics the initiative runs. “They get a level of attentiveness that sometimes well-insured patients can’t get, because we’re so committed to making this work.
“We’re trying to mitigate the costs at the very doorway of healthcare in this country. There are people who walk by a health care facility every day and look at it almost as if it’s a mirage, wondering: How am I going to get past those doors? How am I ever going to be seen by a healthcare provider?”
Thanks to the ABC Initiative, health-care is no longer a mirage for musicians and a growing number of other residents of Rhode Island; the initiative enrolled nearly 200 patients in its first 90 days.
“I think the solutions in health care—logically and ethically—should come from the healthcare community,” Shah says. “And this isn’t the final answer, but it’s our contribution to the dialogue, and we’re very excited about it.”