In January 2019, Better Health Together applied for a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) grant “Connecting Kids to Coverage Outreach & Enrollment”, to increase enrollment of children in the Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). The application outlined outreach and enrollment strategies aimed at educating families about the availability and benefits of health coverage. It also served to directly assist them with the application and subsequent renewals.
Late in June 2019, BHT was notified that we were chosen as one of 39 cooperative agreement awardees for our application. The amount of the award will be $383,768, renewable for three years, totaling $1,151,305. The grant years run July 1 through June 30th beginning 2019 through 2021. This grant will fund 2.1 Full-Time BHT Employees, as well as 3.3 FTE contracted Parent Mentor positions through named partners in the application.
Through the Healthy Kids Together project, BHT will serve families in Adams, Ferry, Lincoln, Pend Oreille, Spokane, Stevens, and Whitman Counties. With a specific focus on populations who experience marked health and socioeconomic disparities including American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN), Hispanic, Marshallese and rural. We’ll work within the communities to provide outreach, enrollment, and one-on-one support to further help families apply for and renew health coverage. Parent Mentor positions will be created with the primary function of helping families remove barriers to social determinant of health resources where they could utilize their healthcare benefits – a little more duties than a Navigator, but not as involved as a Community Health Worker.
