A Georgetown University Medical Center study released last week exposed problems, including a lack of access to basic healthcare, that uninsured District residents face.

Thomas O’Toole, associate dean for curriculum for the School of Medicine and director of the study, said that 32 first- and second-year medical students called 311 medical sites in the D.C. area posing as low-income, uninsured prospective patients. The students followed a standardized script in which they attempted to schedule an appointment.

According to the report, 52 percent of the sites reached agreed to schedule an appointment with the uninsured patient, while all but about 3 percent of those sites required payment at the visit. Nearly four-fifths of the sites were willing to see an uninsured patient if the patient paid in full at the time of service.

Approximately 30 percent of the medical sites in the study offered treatment at a reduced rate for those unable to afford full payment. Less than 4 percent were reported to provide free service to select patients.

The study also concluded that a general physical costs $190 on average – more than half of a week’s salary for a worker earning minimum wage.

O’Toole concluded that improvements must be made to expand and publicize affordable health care and to make the medical community more transparent and accessible to the needs of the approximately 74,000 uninsured residents of the District.

“It is extremely important that we hold our health care accountable,” he said.

The study also called for medical sites to provide less expensive healthcare options for uninsured patients.

“More sites need to be encouraged to provide free and discounted care, or provide payment options for patients having difficulty affording care,” the report said. “This should include creating `best practice’ standards and procedures for practices to offer free or discounted care in ways that are simple, dignified, transparent, equitable, and fair.”

O’Toole suggested that a good first step is to create a directory of local medical sites that offer discounted services to uninsured patients, a task which he said is underway.

Less than 30 percent of the sites that declined to supply medical care for less than $75 were able to refer the prospective patient to an alternative site offering care at a reduced rate, according to the study. More than 100 of the 331 sites identified could not be reached due to incorrectly listed telephone numbers.

O’Toole said that he decided to create the project in part so students could broaden their understanding of the health care system.

“It is extremely important for medical students to understand what some of the realties are for low-income people,” O’Toole said.

“Working on this project opened my eyes to the experience of a patient from a completely different perspective,” said Zainab Khan, one of the students who contributed to the study.

“I hope to make care more accessible to the uninsured, and to be able to make my uninsured patients feel like they deserve quality health care just as much as those who have insurance,” Khan added.