Check Up! Or Check Out: A public health-managed care collaboration to improve preventive health service utilization among African American males

Nationally African American men experience disproportionate morbidity and premature death. In Michigan, approximately 40 percent of black males do not reach age 65. On average, black men in Michigan live seven years less than white men, eight years less than black women, and 13 years less than white women.

The Check Up! Or Check Out! Program and Molina Healthcare, a Medicaid managed care organization collaborated to increase the percentage of African American male members in Detroit who received a preventive health examination. The goal was to facilitate a relationship between the members and their primary care provider. Health communication strategies included a personal introductory mailer from the primary care provider and culturally and linguistically appropriate health literature (i.e. palm cards, brochures, etc.) sent to each member and a health media campaign targeted to African American males.

Prior to implementation, 6% of Molina African American male members completed a preventive heath exam with their primary care physician. For the men in the CUCO pilot group 36% completed a preventative health exam with their primary care physician.