Access to health care coverage and eliminating health care disparities are key public health goals for Minnesota.
At 4 %, Minnesota has one of the lowest rates of un-insurance in the country, yet an estimated 40,000 children are uninsured. Even with high levels of health care coverage, it’s been documented that some children are not receiving a full complement of preventive services. Finally, although Minnesota ranks as one of the healthiest states in the country, it has documented some of the worst health disparities.
Given these facts, state leaders have recently joined forces to focus on three goals for children: to provide universal access to health care coverage, improve access to preventive services, and eliminate health disparities for populations of color and rural communities. This new initiative, Cover all Kids, is a statewide public/private partnership dedicated to accomplishing these shared goals. This initiative is lead by the Children’s Defense Fund, the Department of Human Services, the Department of Health, and the Minnesota Council of Health Plans who will be part of a larger, broad-based steering committee. The steering committee will coordinate and communicate a myriad of activities that includes legislative and collaborative efforts. In addition to working toward the stated goals, work groups will concentrated on implementing a statewide public awareness and education campaign, identifying a standardized best practice guideline with a documentation form and community referrals, and finally, evaluating and assessing progress.
This presentation will describe the initiative’s structure, goals, objectives and progress to date.
Learning Objectives: 1. Describe a structure for achieving a statewide goal 2. Articulate the complexity of identifying a standardized best practice guideline for preventive services; 3. Identify key strategies for eliminating health disparities
Keywords: Access and Services, Access to Care
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: none
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.