The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

Abstract #44316

Carla Clasen, RN/MPH¹, John Pascoe, MD, MPH², Don Jentleson, PhD³, and Arthur Pickoff, MD². (1) Center for Healthy Communities, Wright State University, 140 East Monument Avenue, Dayton, OH 45402, 937 775 1114, carla.clasen@wright.edu, (2) Department of Pediatrics, Wright State University, Children's Medical Center, One Children's Plaza, Dayton, OH 45404, (3) Dept. of Community Health, Wright State University, 3460 Colonel Glenn Hwy, 136D F.A. White Center, Dayton, OH 45324

Collaboration among public and private entities is receiving increasing attention as a method to address utilization and access issues for uninsured and underinsured citizens. HealthLink Miami Valley is a collaborative project in Montgomery County, Ohio in which public and private health and human service agencies are partnering to identify un- and underinsured families and assist them to access needed health care services. Partners in this effort include the county health department, the county human services department, a Medicaid managed care organization, a drug and alcohol services board, a faith ministry, the area hospital association, a professional medical society, a state university, and a community college. This presentation will focus on the evaluation of the collaborative process, including the results of a written survey (based on the work of the Center for the Advancement of Collaborative Strategies in Health) of network members conducted near the beginning and at the end of a funded planning year as well as feedback from the community partners within the collaborative. Presenters are project leaders and will discuss successes, barriers, and lessons learned.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of this session, participants will be able to

• Describe the structure of HealthLink Miami Valley, a public-private collaborative project to improve access to health care for underserved families.
• Identify some methods of evaluation for collaboratives.
• Enumerate findings of the process evaluation of this project.

Keywords: Collaboration, Access to Health Care

Related Web page: www.med.wright.edu/hsm/healthlink/index.html

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I have a significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.
Relationship: employment