Patient Care Funds give residents a say in how best to provide for our patients. CIR members began to negotiate for these funds in their contracts because their frontline experience revealed many areas where equipment or services were needed to better serve patients, yet year after year, those things were not included in their hospital budgets.
In response to that frustration, CIR members in Los Angeles first negotiated with their hospitals for funding for purchases for patient care needs in 1975. The news of that success spread, and residents in New York City’s public hospitals picked up on the idea in 1980 and created their own Patient Care Trust Fund. Boston and Cambridge were the next to follow suit; hospitals in San Francisco and Alameda County in California, the University of New Mexico, and some voluntary hospitals in New York also negotiated and won Patient Care Funds (PCFs).
Examples of PCF purchases include practical equipment such as ultrasound scanners, vital signs monitors and portable Doppler units, as well as yoga classes for patients who are the victims of violence, and taxi vouchers for patients leaving the hospital late at night without the means to cover transportation.
To submit a request for Patient Care Funds, find your hospital here.
Learn more about what residents are doing with Patient Care Funds!
