:

Tom Underwood
Executive Director
Georgia Partnership for Caring Foundation
P. O. Box 450987
Atlanta, GA 31145-0987
678.578.2926
[email protected] om

Tom Underwood is Executive Director of the Georgia Partnership for Caring Foundation, Inc., an Atlanta-based, private non-profit organization comprised of health care providers who donate their time and products to provide non-emergency health care services for Georgia's low-income uninsured persons who are living below the federal poverty level.

The organization's mission is to help find a "medical home" for low-income uninsured residents of Georgia. They accomplish this by coordinating services that are donated by primary care physicians, mid-level practitioners, specialists, clinics, community health centers, pharmacies, pharmaceutical companies and hospitals.

The GPCF was formed in 1994 by Georgia's then Lieutenant Governor Pierre Howard, several state legislators, representatives from the pharmaceutical industry and various public and private health care associations and human services agencies. Each client is offered one donated visit to a primary health care provider in the GPCF network. The client can also see a specialist in the GPCF network for one donated visit if referred by the primary care physician. Pharmacy support is provided by prescription drugs that are donated by four pharmaceutical manufacturers.

Since July 1995, over 42,000 GPCF applications have been processed. Over 25,000 referrals have been made to providers, hospitals and pharmacies. Over 70,000 prescriptions have been filled by GPCF pharmacies. Today, over 700 private healthcare providers, community health centers, clinics and hospitals and over 400 pharmacies participate in the GPCF network. For more information, visit www.gacares.org.