NYC Health + Hospitals Commits $23.7 Million to New York Legal Assistance Group’s LegalHealth Unit for Free Legal Services for Patients

August 11, 2026 - 21:15

NYC Health + Hospitals has signed a $23.7 million contract with the New York Legal Assistance Group to bring free civil legal services directly to patients across its facilities. The funding backs the group's LegalHealth unit, which will embed attorneys and paralegals in hospital settings to handle cases tied to housing, benefits, immigration, and family law.

The idea is simple: a patient's health often depends on things that happen outside the exam room. A family facing eviction, a veteran denied disability pay, or a cancer patient fighting for Medicaid coverage all carry stress that can worsen medical outcomes. By putting legal experts on site, doctors can refer patients to help without sending them across the city to a courthouse or a law office.

Officials say the program has already shown results in pilot locations, where patients with legal help were more likely to show up for follow-up visits and stick to treatment plans. The new contract expands that work to more hospitals and clinics, with a focus on neighborhoods hit hardest by poverty and chronic illness.

The LegalHealth unit has operated for over two decades, but this marks one of its largest public investments to date. Hospital leadership framed the move as part of a broader push to treat social conditions as medical issues. For patients, it means a lawyer might become as accessible as a nurse when they walk through the door.