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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

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: