Jefferson Center for Refugee Health


Contact :
Marc Altshuler, MD
Director, Jefferson Center for Refugee Health
833 Chestnut Street East
Suite 301
Philadelphia, PA 19107
Phone : 215-955-5561
Fax : 215-923-9186
Email : marc.altshuler@jefferson.edu
www.jeffersonhospital.org
Date Opened: September 2007
Annual New Patient Capacity: 250
Clinic Schedule: Initial evals: Friday afternoons, follow-up  daily including access to acute visits
Populations Served: Serves all refugee populations, plus asylees, victims of trafficking & other humanitarian groups
Partner Agency(ies): Coordinated by Nationalities Service Center; sees patients from three resettlement agencies
Services Provided: Adult, pediatric, obstetric, gynecology, inpatient care
Interpretation System: Interpreter through Language Line primarily
Insurances Accepted: Medicaid HMO: Keystone Mercy(existing patients only), Coventry Cares;  Personal Choice, Keystone East, Aetna, United Healthcare, Bravo
The Department of Family and Community Medicine (DFCM) at Thomas Jefferson University focuses its education and research missions on a patient care model that emphasizes comprehensive, continuous, and compassionate care provided efficiently and cost effectively. This model of care encompasses an assessment of social context. Providing care to refugees fits the mission of JFMA (DFCM’s medical practice). In 2007, the Department of Family and Community Medicine (DFCM) at Thomas Jefferson University piloted a partnership with the Nationalities Services Center to provide comprehensive healthcare services to newly-arrived refugees in Philadelphia. With the success of this partnership and the increasing number of refugees arriving in Philadelphia, the Jefferson Center for Refugee Health (JCRH) was started in 2008. Since 2007, the medical providers at JFMA have provided health care services to approximately 700 refugees through 3,000 office visits.

All refugees are evaluated in the DFCM by the family medicine residents, under the direct supervision of Dr. Marc Altshuler, Director of JCRH and an Assistant Professor in Family Medicine. Refugee health is a mandatory and integral part of the family medicine training, and all 27 residents are involved in caring for refugees. Refugee health care training, composed of clinical experiences and didactic lectures, is taught during all three years of family medicine residency. This program has had a significant impact on JFMA and many graduates have chosen to continue providing care to refugees after graduation.

The family medicine physicians are able to provide the refugees with comprehensive care in both the inpatient and outpatient setting. The care provided to refugees may include newborn care, pediatrics, women’s health, adult medicine and geriatrics. All patients have access to laboratory, radiology and subspecialty services at Thomas Jefferson Hospital.

  • Jefferson Family Medicine Associates Clinic Guide
  • Jefferson Family Medicine Associates Release of Information