Spotlight on Kent County GSC: The Children’s Healthcare Access Program

The need was clear: Children with Medicaid in Kent County had health outcomes far lower than children with private insurance.  Health care dollars were not being used effectively.  A lack of access to quality medical home, inappropriate use of the ER, and avoidable hospitalizations made it even harder to maximize the benefit of limited health care funds.

The Kent County Great Start Collaborative launched the the Children’s Healthcare Access Program (CHAP). This program met the challenges of improving health care head-on, working to increase access to a Medical Home, improving the quality of their Medical Home, and providing supportive services and parent education.

Incorrect use of emergency departments were reduced by launching special educational outreach projects that focused on specific illnesses. Childhood athsma, for example, was one example of a condition that sent families to seek emergency care, when other effective solutions were available. When paired with increased use of appropriate medical home resources, this made better use of existing resources and decreased costs.

Finally, the program offered models for improving the delivery of health care to childre, and advocated for system-wide improvement and efficiencies, bringing local funders, primary care providers and health plans to the table together. 

This project had great results from the start:

• Opened up 1,000 new Medicaid slots in Kent County
• Increased same-day and evening access to primary care
• Lowered Emergency department rate by 8.7%
• Lowered hospitalization rate by more than 3%
• Implemented the medical home improvement project
• Streamlined the behavioral health referral system for children on Medicaid
• Instituted regular practice manager, provider and health plan meetings in order to improve communication, share best practices and crate buy-in for system changes.

Best practices include:

• Engage local funders, primary care providers and health plans from the beginning
• Involve community leaders to drive the effort, using their power to convene stakeholders
• Establish good tracking and data systems to measure outcomes
• Be nimble in the way services are provided:  Timely responses to client needs are critical

Want to learn more? Contact Judy Freeman, Kent GSC Director, here.