# Presentation: 296752

## Healthy Communities Access Program Annual Grantee Conference 

Kids Get Care, Local Evaluation
January 21, 2004

Susan Johnson, Director
Lisa Podell, Program Manager
Kirsten Wysen, Evaluator
King County Health Action Plan
Public Health-Seattle & King County

- Kids Get Care, Local Evaluation
- January 21, 2004
*Susan Johnson, Director*
*Lisa Podell, Program Manager*
*Kirsten Wysen, Evaluator*
*King County Health Action Plan*
*Public Health-Seattle & King County*
*	*

## Health Action Plan and Kids Get Care

- The mission of the King County Health Action Plan is to implement innovative collaborative policy development and pilot projects that focus on system change and improvement of worsening health trends affecting vulnerable populations within King County.
**Kids Get Care** (KGC) is a program to ensure that children, regardless of insurance status, receive early integrated preventive physical, oral, developmental and mental health services through attachment to a health care home.

## Children’s Physical and Mental Health Needs

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- Children’s Physical and Mental Health Needs

- Only 21% of Medicaid children in Washington State had complete Well Child Checks in 2001 (OMPRO 2001)
- Only 50% of commercially insured children nationwide are up-to-date with Well Child Checks by 15 months of age (NCQA 2003)
- More children in Washington State are hospitalized for mental health problems than for injuries (Kids Count)
- Behavioral and emotional problems are 1.5 to 2 times more frequent in households with lower family incomes (Kids Count)

**Notes:**
Approximately 15 to 18 percent of children in the United States have had a developmental or behavioral disability; however, only 50 percent of these children are identified as having a problem prior to starting school.
 The Commonwealth Fund.  Reasons and Strategies for Strengthening Childhood Development Services in the Healthcare System. October 2002. p.3
The early detection of problems and the prompt provision of an appropriate intervention can improve developmental outcomes (i.e. shift the odds) for both children living in high-risk environments and children with biologically based disabilities.
 Scientific Conclusions. From Neurons to Neighborhoods.  P. 412-413.

## Oral Health Needs in King County

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- Only 26% of Medicaid children 0 to 5 received any type of dental service in 2002 (MAA, 2003)
- Less than 5% of Medicaid children 0 to 2 have seen a dentist (MAA, 2003)
- Five times more children suffer from caries than from asthma (JAMA, 2000)
- Eighty percent of tooth decay is found in 25 percent of children (Ibid)

## KGC’s Strategy to Improve Physical and 

**Primary Care **
_**Medical Providers**_
***Prevention***

**Community Based**
_**Organizations**_
***Education***

_**Dental Providers**_
**Access to Baby and Child Dentistry**
***Increased Capacity***

- KGC’s Strategy to Improve Physical and
- Oral Health In the Community

- Kids Get Care - King County Health Action Plan

## “Seize the moment”

- “Seize the moment”

- Kids Get Care - King County Health Action Plan

## Promoting the Prevention Model

- KGC is consistent with the Chronic Care Model and quality improvement PDSA cycles
- KGC uses techniques identified by national prevention, service integration efforts (physical, oral, developmental, and mental health)
- National Initiative for Children’s Healthcare Quality
- Institute for Healthcare Improvement
- 2000 Surgeon General report on oral health
- 1999 Surgeon General report on mental health

- Kids Get Care - King County Health Action Plan

## Program Achievements in First Two Years

- 41% average increase in percentage of two-year-olds up-to-date with Well Child Checks, from 53% to 75% overall
- Over 7,000 children connected to health care homes
- Over 35,000 children scanned for developmental milestones
- Over 3,500 providers and community staff trained to provide developmental, oral health scans and health care home linkage
- 66% increase in oral health screenings at one medical clinic
- Over 100 private dentists and staff participating in the ABCD program in the first six months
- Educational video on Well Child Checks, and “red flags” checklists, available at _www.metrokc.gov/health/kgc_

- Kids Get Care - King County Health Action Plan

##  Kids Get Care Cost Effectiveness

- Two-year-olds with up-to-date Well Child Checks are 48% less likely to have avoidable hospitalizations (Hakim, *Pediatrics,* July 2001)
- Children with a regular health care home are 37% less likely to visit the ER (Christakis, *Pediatrics,* July 2001).
- Paying for fluoride varnishes for Medicaid children 0 to 5 in King County costs $1.4 million, while paying to fill cavities costs $1.7 million (WDSF analysis, 2003)

- Kids Get Care - King County Health Action Plan

## Avoidable Hospitalizations among 2-year-olds

-   Medicaid covers 35% of two-year-olds, yet pays for 63% of avoidable hospitalizations for two-year-olds statewide
-  Statewide hospitalization database, CHARS

- Kids Get Care - King County Health Action Plan

## If Kids Get Care Were Statewide...

- Kids Get Care - King County Health Action Plan

## What Does Kids Get Care Cost?

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## The Policy Opportunities

- Kids Get Care is an “assertive access” demonstration project that showing it is:
- It is more cost effective to provide well child care to young children than hospitalizations
- It is more cost effective to provide fluoride varnishes to young children than caries treatment

- Kids Get Care - King County Health Action Plan

## Evaluation Helped Dissemination Efforts

- OMPRO Clinical Advisory Panel meeting
- Journal articles: Future of Children, Journal of Dental Education, Children & Youth Funding Report
- RWJ Local Initiative Funding Partners Oral Health Cluster meeting
- HRSA Maternal and Child Health Bureau webcast on Title V, Medicaid and local health departments and EPSDT
- Conferences, meetings, presentations this fall

- Kids Get Care - King County Health Action Plan

## Evaluation and Policy Impact

- Three state conferences in fall:  six more counties interested
- State Board of Health resolution in November:  policy to remove financial barriers to prevention
- Statewide expansion considered for Governor’s budget, Dec:  Aiming for biennial budget next year
- Three health plan presentations: one grant obtained and two joint submissions
- Seattle Chamber of Commerce business-oriented presentation: may support expansion
- Children’s Preventive Health Care Collaborative in WA

- Kids Get Care - King County Health Action Plan

## Role of Policy-focused Evaluation

- HCAP provided initial funding
- Three sites provided two years of data
- Expansion to seven sites
- Replication within two provider systems
- State and local policy impact
- Evaluation results enabled Kids Get Care to evolve to wider spheres of influence

- Kids Get Care - King County Health Action Plan