Boulder County Healthy Kids Community-Based Program

About the Program

Category: Human Services (Best in Category)

Year: 2012

The goal of the Boulder County Healthy Kids community-based program is to increase access to health benefits for children and families in Boulder County, while simultaneously increasing the number of children with a medical home. In order to achieve that goal, Boulder County Healthy Kids has developed partnerships with Boulder Valley School District, St. Vrain Valley School District, Salud Family Health Centers, and Clinica Family Health Services to locate an eligibility technician at each site to help screen and enroll children and families into Medicaid and Colorado’s State Children’s Health Insurance Program. Stationed eligibility technicians have become trusted members of their organization and surrounding community. In the first year of the project, nearly 2,000 children, parents, and pregnant women were enrolled in Medicaid or CHP+ at the four locations. Eligibility technicians have also decreased the delay between application submission and approval. The state mandates applications to be completely processed within 45 days; however, this time-frame is not manageable for families experiencing illness or for homeless or transient families. With the BCHK community-based program, eligibility technicians are able to complete applications within one week.