NYC Health + Hospitals Commits $23.7 Million to New York Legal Assistance Group’s LegalHealth Unit for Free Legal Services for Patients
Additional funding for the initiative is provided by the New York City Council and the NYC Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs
Nearly 4,000 patients accessed legal services through LegalHealth at NYC Health + Hospitals in 2025
Aug 11, 2026
New York, NY – Today, NYC Health + Hospitals announced a $23.7 million contract to offer free health-related civil legal services to its patients at its hospitals across the city in partnership with LegalHealth, a division of the New York Legal Assistance Group (NYLAG), over the next seven years. The medical-legal partnership is further strengthened through funding from the New York City Council and the NYC Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs.
Nearly 4,000 patients accessed free legal services at NYC Health + Hospitals in 2025, including assistance with public benefits, housing quality and security, and health insurance. Patients can access free health-related civil legal services over the phone or in-person at one of thirteen brick-and-mortar sites in the health system through a referral by a doctor, social worker, or community health worker. The NYC Health + Hospitals and NYLAG LegalHealth Unit partnership is one of the longest-running and largest medical-legal partnerships in the country, dating back to 2002, and has provided free legal assistance to thousands of New Yorkers seeking help with public benefits, immigration, health insurance, advance planning, and housing, among other legal issues.
“Our longstanding commitment to our medical-legal partnership program with NYLAG reflects our simple belief that all New Yorkers deserve the opportunity to be healthy, and that means addressing the legal and social barriers that too often prevent them from thriving,” said Nichola Davis, MD, MS, Chief Population Health Officer at NYC Health + Hospitals. “By continuing to expand access to legal services as part of healthcare, we are advancing health equity and building on a more just system that responds not only to illness, but to the conditions that shape health in the first place. This partnership represents a continued commitment to delivering more integrated, person-centered care for our patients and communities.”
“LegalHealth values our near twenty-five year partnership with NYC Health + Hospitals, and this renewal reaffirms our shared commitment to advancing health equity, better patient outcomes, greater stability, and improved quality of life,” said Julie Brandfield, Director of New York Legal Assistance Group’s LegalHealth Unit. “At New York Legal Assistance Group, we have always used the power of the law to overcome the systemic barriers that prevent people from quality healthcare, stable housing, and healthy food. Because of NYC Health + Hospitals’ ongoing commitment to our innovative partnership, LegalHealth and NYLAG’s staff have helped thousands of patients secure benefits, resolve housing issues, gain access to life-saving care through insurance, and plan for the future. At a time when policies discourage enrollment or kick people off essential benefits and services, our vital medical legal partnership must stay strong so that New Yorkers can remain healthy and secure.”
Free legal services are available at the following sites in the health care system:
- NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue
- NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst
- NYC Health + Hospitals/Gotham Health, Gouverneur
- NYC Health + Hospitals/Gotham Health, Morrisania
- NYC Health + Hospitals/Harlem
- NYC Health + Hospitals/Jacobi
- NYC Health + Hospitals/Kings County
- NYC Health + Hospitals/Lincoln
- NYC Health + Hospitals/Metropolitan
- NYC Health + Hospitals/North Central Bronx
- NYC Health + Hospitals/Queens
- NYC Health + Hospitals/South Brooklyn Health
- NYC Health + Hospitals/Woodhull
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CONTACTS:
NYC Health + Hospitals: pressoffice@nychhc.org
NYLAG: kkepplinger@nylag.org
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About NYC Health + Hospitals
NYC Health + Hospitals is the largest municipal health care system in the nation serving more than a million New Yorkers annually in more than 70 patient care locations across the city’s five boroughs. A robust network of outpatient, neighborhood-based primary and specialty care centers anchors care coordination with the system’s trauma centers, nursing homes, post-acute care centers, home care agency, and MetroPlusHealth—all supported by 11 essential hospitals. Its diverse workforce of more than 46,000 employees is uniquely focused on empowering New Yorkers, without exception, to live the healthiest life possible. For more information, visit www.nychealthandhospitals.org and stay connected on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.
About New York Legal Assistance Group’s LegalHealth Unit
Since 1990 the New York Legal Assistance Group (NYLAG) has used the power of the law to help New Yorkers in need combat social and economic injustice. NYLAG addresses emerging and urgent legal needs with comprehensive, free civil legal services, impact litigation, policy advocacy, and community education. Founded as a division of NYLAG in 2001, LegalHealth has grown significantly and continues to expand its capacity to meet the rising need for civil legal services in the healthcare setting. A culturally competent 54-member staff provides free legal assistance to low-income New Yorkers with chronic and serious health problems at legal clinics located within hospitals across New York City, Long Island and a new partner in Westchester. For more information visit www.legalhealth.org or www.nylag.org.