MEDICAID OUTREACH & ENROLLMENT: LESSONS FROM CHIPRA CYCLE I AND II FUNDING

Transcription

1 MEDICAID OUTREACH & ENROLLMENT: LESSONS FROM CHIPRA CYCLE I AND II FUNDING Deanna White LEGAL AID SOCIETY OF SOUTHWEST OHIO, LLC (513) dwhite@lascinti.org 1

2 MEDICAID MEDICAID OUTREACH OUTREACH & ENROLLMENT & ENROLLMENT 2005: Cincinnati Legal Aid starts doing Medicaid outreach & enrollment with funding from the Covering Kids & Families grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

3 MEDICAID MEDICAID OUTREACH OUTREACH & ENROLLMENT & ENROLLMENT : Cincinnati Legal Aid is awarded CHIPRA Cycle I and II Medicaid outreach & enrollment funding from HHS.

4 RESULTS FROM MEDICAID OUTREACH CHIPRA I AND & ENROLLMENT II Goal: enroll 2,000 kids total. Results: Enrolled 2,592 children in Medicaid. Helped 1,211 children retain Medicaid. Enrolled 709 parents in Medicaid. Helped 30% of families obtain SNAP in addition to Medicaid.

5 OUTREACH PRACTICES SCHOOL BASED school nurse, social worker, front desk staff refer uninsured kids to us PHONATHONS one day broadcasts from local TV station; uninsured families call us for help completing the Medicaid application. PARTNER REFERRED staff at partner agencies refer uninsured kids to us HISPANIC OUTREACH our bilingual project staff meets with families at trusted Hispanic community-based agencies IN-REACH other advocates at our agency refer uninsured families to us OUTREACH EVENTS having tables at back to school fairs, health fairs, neighborhood events, etc. 5

6 WHAT WORKED? CONNECTING WITH PEOPLE WHO HAD AN IMMEDIATE HEALTH CONCERN. Successful Medicaid outreach & enrollment 6

7 WORKS! SCHOOL BASED OUTREACH Partner with school staff (ie: nurses & social workers) to refer uninsured kids. 647 What made this strategy effective? We made it EASY to make a referral to us. We reached our audience where they were already connected. The referral source helped us reach the family when we couldn t. 7

8 WORKS! SCHOOL BASED OUTREACH Referring School Districts: Cincinnati Public Edgewood City Fairfield Finneytown Goshen Greenfield Exempted Hamilton City Lakota Loveland Madeira Northwest Norwood City Reading St. Bernard/Elmwood Place Talawanda Winton Woods 8

9 WORKS! PHONATHONS Partner with a local television station to do a one-day media blitz about Medicaid enrollment. 507 What made this strategy effective? We reached a broad audience. We completed the application with the caller over the phone and sealed the deal right then. We reached people who didn t know where to go for help &/or were embarrassed to ask. 9

10 WORKS! PHONATHONS 10

11 WORKS! IN-REACH AT YOUR AGENCY Reach in to your agency s own uninsured client base. Train your whole staff on how/when to refer to you. 470 What makes this strategy effective? We already had the information we needed to reach the clients. We had a captive audience: they were already coming to our agency for help. The audience trusted our agency. 11

12 WORKS! HISPANIC OUTREACH Partner with an organization trusted in the Hispanic community. 274 What makes this strategy effective? We were reaching our audience in a place that they knew & trusted. We sent a native Spanish-speaking advocate. We kept a sustained, regular presence at the site so the families knew when we d be there. 12

13 WORKS! HISPANIC OUTREACH 13

14 WORKS! PARTNER AGENCY REFERRALS Partner with other community agencies to refer clients to you. What made this strategy effective? We reached our audience where they were already connected. The referral source helped us reach the family when we couldn t

15 THE OTHER SIDE OF THE COIN: WHAT DIDN T WORK 15

16 DIDN T WORK OUTREACH EVENTS Attending health fairs, back-tofairs, community days, etc. effective way to get people signed up for health coverage. school is not an What made this strategy ineffective? Attendees at the event were more interested in the fun tables than talking about health coverage. The organization of the event was completely out of our control some events attracted less than 10 people. Attendees were reluctant to stop at the welfare table. 16

17 DIDN T WORK OUTREACH EVENTS Event # of enrollments Northwest back-to-school fair 4 North College Hill community picnic 3 Norwood back-to-school fair 0 Crossroad Health Center health fair 0 Lincoln Heights Health Center health fair 0 Clinton County community baby shower 0 Latino Expo 0 Garfield Middle School open house 0 Price Hill back-to-school fair 0 Talawanda Elementary open house 0 Loveland back-to-school fair 0 17

18 DIDN T WORK MASSIVE FLYERING Putting our flyer in school packets. Parent fills out flyer & returns it to school. School gives completed forms to us. We follow-up with parent. 18

19 DIDN T WORK MASSIVE FLYERING What makes this strategy ineffective? Difficult to reach people by phone, and snail mail. If we reached the family, they were experiencing other life stressors that out-prioritized applying for health coverage. Since the flyer was returned to us, the family did not get to keep our contact information. 19

20 DIDN T WORK COLD CALLING LISTS OF UNINSURED We obtained lists of THOUSANDS of uninsured patients from a huge FQHC and started calling them to offer them free enrollment assistance. and & What made this strategy ineffective? Difficult to reach people by phone, and snail mail. Folks we reached didn t know us, had other more pressing priorities than signing up for Medicaid, were busy, etc. 20

21 21

22 HOW DO WE TRANSFER THIS LEARNING TO EFFECTIVELY REACH NEWLY ELIGIBLE (EXPANSION) ADULTS? 22

23 KNOW YOUR TARGET EXPANSION ELIGIBLE ADULT: 1. Between ages of US Citizen or Qualified Alien 3. Earns < 138% FPL 23

24 For example... 24

25 DO 1. Set up a referral process with partners where the uninsured ALREADY ARE * * Where are they? 2. Brainstorm ways to connect with people experiencing an immediate health need. 3. Coordinate a phonathon. 4. Reach out to your own agency s uninsured client/patients and staff to refer to you. 25

26 DON T 1. Don t prioritize outreach events. 2. Don t spend a lot of time creating fancy brochures/flyers, then blanketing the community with them. 26

27 27