As a measure of their success, the monthly meetings have also attracted other organizations that did not receive mini-grants, but are working on health access issues within the state. Over the past year, additional community groups and health care advocacy organizations have started attending the HAN meetings. Just like the grant recipients, these groups find the exchange of information to be extremely useful in furthering their efforts to enroll uninsured families, and they appreciate a chance to voice their concerns about health access to representatives from the state agencies. Attendance at these meetings varies from region to region, with an average of 30 to 35 participants. However, in the Boston area meetings have attracted as many as 70 participants.
Meetings always begin with community updates from the various attending organizations.
Each community group is given the chance to explain what is working and not working within their community. Through this process, people share and receive best practice ideas and begin to address the barriers they, and the families they work with, are facing. The second part of the meeting is devoted to the state agencies. Representatives from the Department of Public Health and the Division of Medical Assistance provide the group with their own updates, such as enrollment numbers, new policies, or progress in changing or updating state policies. Following the update, community groups participate in a question and answer session.