APHA
Back to Annual Meeting
APHA 2006 APHA
Back to Annual Meeting
APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Community-Based Organizations Produce Innovative Programs to Improve Utilization of Services for Children in Medicaid and S-CHIP

MaryAnn Phillips, MPH1, Bernette Sherman, MPA1, and Karen Minyard, PHD2. (1) Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia Health Policy Center, Georgia State University, 14 Marietta Street, Atlanta, GA 30303, 404-651-1643, mphillips2@gsu.edu, (2) Georgia Health Policy Center, Georgia State University, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, 14 Marietta Street, Atlanta, GA 30303

A grant program designed to promote collaboration among community-based organizations, health care providers, and families made six awards to community-based organizations to improve utilization of health services for children enrolled in Medicaid and PeachCare for Kids (Georgia's child health insurance program/CHIP). The six organizations' programs were evaluated retrospectively to identify the methods used to increase health services utilization, the barriers encountered, and the innovative solutions created by the programs to achieve their goals. All six organizations were successful in increasing programmatic activities, including adding 4,890 new or potential enrollees, providing 5,149 telephone appointment reminders, and generating 2,308 referrals to other services. The most common challenges encountered by the programs were staff turnover, lack of IT integration, lack of transportation for enrollees, and limited funding and sustainability. In response, programs developed innovative staffing patterns, created new data systems for appointment scheduling and record maintenance, and forged new collaborative relationships to support their programs. A program's staffing decisions, upfront capacity-building, and partnerships with multiple organizations are important factors for community-based organizations seeking to work with families and providers to improve children's health services utilization.

Learning Objectives:

  • At the conclusion of the session, the participant (learner) in this session will be able to

    Keywords: Outreach Programs, Access and Services

    Presenting author's disclosure statement:

    Any relevant financial relationships? No

    Community-based Approaches to Public Health Management and Practice

    The 134th Annual Meeting & Exposition (November 4-8, 2006) of APHA