The State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) was established by the Balanced Budget Act of 1997. It allows for $40 billion in federal grants to states over a ten-year period to provide health insurance coverage for children. Although the primary purpose of SCHIP is to provide a safety net for children, there is a secondary benefit as well. It is our hypothesis that the provision of SCHIP reduces the overall costs of health care by decreasing costly emergency-room visits. We test this hypothesis for four counties (Hamilton, Butler, and Clermont in Ohio and Kenton in Kentucky) in the greater Cincinnati metropolitan area. We also look at a number of options for realizing additional cost savings through improved enrollment in SCHIP. For this purpose, we develop and administer a questionnaire to individuals involved in the SCHIP program across the four counties, based in part on the SCHIP evaluation tool developed by the American Academy of Pediatrics. The survey responses will indicate the most important factors currently blocking the enrollment of more children in SCHIP. Assuming that one of those factors is ease of access, we employ G.I.S. techniques to determine the optimal location of clinics in the four counties relative to the eligible population. Using cost-benefit analysis techniques, we also look at the tradeoff between reduced emergency-room costs and the costs of providing better transportation, better-located providers, and longer clinic hours. Finally, we will use our results to generate policy proposals for improving SCHIP access and utilization.
Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant (learner)in this session will be able to: 1. Describe the implementation process of the SCHIP program in the four counties; 2. Identify key stakeholders in the development and implementation of the program; 3. Identify resources available to citizens and community groups in these four counties that may be useful in other states to improve accessibility and utilization of SCHIP services.
Keywords: Access and Services, Child Health
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: Hamilton County Department of Job and Family Services
Disclosure not received
Relationship: Not Received.