Lucas County Healthy Start Healthy Families Medicaid Outreach Project to end January 2007

TOLEDO: The Neighborhood Health Association announced last week that the Covering Kids and Families (CKF) Medicaid Outreach Pilot Project it has been leading since December 2002 will come to an end January 5, 2007.  This 4-year grant, made possible by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, was aimed at getting more eligible children and families enrolled onto Medicaid health insurance by:

• conducting and coordinating Medicaid outreach in Lucas County, focused on the Latino community,

• simplifying the Healthy Start Healthy Families (HSHF) Medicaid application and renewal processes, and

• coordinating existing health coverage programs.

The CKF Project acted as a liaison between the applicant, the Department of Job and Family Services which determines eligibility, and the Medicaid Managed Care Plans that provide medical services, to make the application and renewal processes easier to navigate.  Some of the innovative strategies used to carry out the above goals included:

• Setting up two HSHF hotlines, 241-HEALTH (English) and 241-SALUD (Spanish) to answer applicants’ questions about the program.  More than 4200 people received assistance through these hotlines.

• Developing bilingual Application Tipsheets and Application Process Forms to guide the applicant through the application, approval, Managed Care selection, and renewal processes.

• Partnering with more than 60 community agencies to make HSHF applications easily available.  Another outreach effort included placing all bilingual program information at WTOL.com.  More than 74,000 people visited this website to get more program details, to download an application, and for instructions on how to complete the forms.

All of these outreach activities helped thousands of uninsured people complete the application process more easily, get the health care they need and deserve, and get connected to other social service programs.  As a result, the CKF Project generated approximately 20% of Job and Family Services’ monthly Healthy Start Healthy Families caseload.

Although the CKF Project will end January 5, 2007, the Medicaid program administered by Job and Family Services will continue.  However, “the absence of CKF will leave large gaps in the community and many eligible children and families may not get enrolled,” according to the organization’s press release.

For more information about the Healthy Start Healthy Families Medicaid insurance program, call the Department of Job and Family Services at 419-213-8614.