 | The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
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| The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
Marguerite Ro, DrPH, SDOS - Div of Community Health, Columbia University, 630 West 168th Street, New York, NY 10032, 212-304-7185, mr965@columbia.edu, Elizabeth M. Whitley, PhD, Denver Health, 777 Bannock St. MC 7779, Denver, CO 80204, Lisa Gaarde Hartsock, MPH, Community Health Services, FirstHealth of the Carolinas, 155 Memorial Dr, PO Box 3000, Pinehurst, NC 28374, and Deborah Zahn, MPH, Alameda Health Consortium, 7700 Edgewater Drive, Oakland, CA 94621.
In 1998, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation launched the Community Voices: Health Care for the Underserved Initiative to improve health care access and quality. The five-year initiative was designed to strengthen the safety-net and address barriers to care faced by the underserved and uninsured. This session highlights three of the thirteen learning laboratories who have developed innovative community-based health plans for the uninsured and/or developed effective outreach and enrollment strategies for reaching underserved populations (e.g. immigrants, rural residents, Native Americans, and the homeless). The three learning laboratories featured are:
Denver Health’s enrollment strategy involves the deployment of enrollment specialists out into communities. Using an innovative management information system, “AppTrack”, over 130,000 individuals have been enrolled and over $100 million in revenue has been generated.
FirstHealth working with small businesses in their neighboring counties designed a small business insurance product, FirstPlan, to address the lack of coverage for small business employees. Nearly 40% of small business employees in their region are uninsured.
Alameda Health Consortium with its community partners has developed Alliance Family Care, an insurance product that is available to low income families regardless of citizenship status. In three years, they have enrolled over 7200 individuals – mostly Latino and Asian immigrants who otherwise would be uninsured.
The success and sustainability of these programs is reflective of the strong community partnerships formed around improving access and eliminating disparities. In all three programs, stakeholder and community input have played a critical role in the design and implementation of these efforts.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Access to Health Care, Underserved Populations
Related Web page: www.communityvoices.org
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: W.K. Kellogg Foundation
Denver Health
FirstHealth of the Carolinas
Alameda Alliance for Health
I have a significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.
Relationship: I am a policy consultant to the W.K. Kellogg Community Voices Initiative.