CHC Receives Grant For Improved Health Access for Children

From the Community Health Center

Community Health Center, Inc. (CHC) has received a two-year grant of $400,584 from the federal government to help uninsured and underinsured children access Medicaid and the state’s HUSKY program through an electronic enrollment and screening tool.

The grant was announced by Secretary Kathleen Sebelius of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

For CHC, the grant would reduce the number of uninsured children in CHC’s service area by 30 percent, or 16,000 children by Year 2 through new enrollment and increased retention.

The grant would also improve the efficiency and ease of the enrollment process by using a new web-based technology that facilitates eligibility screening and enrollment while providing advanced data management.

“This grant substantiates Connecticut’s urgent need for an innovative outreach strategy to ensure that families in Connecticut who are eligible for insurance receive it and keep it,” said Mark Masselli, president and CEO of CHC. “Too many children are without health insurance, either because they were never enrolled or weren’t retained in the program. This work can change that.”

The Community Health Center, Inc. is Connecticut’s largest Federally Qualified Health Center serving more than 70,000 patients in 12 sites and 180 locations. Since its founding in 1972, CHC has worked to increase its ability to serve low-income families facing barriers to health care..

The agency has been helping clients access Medicaid through its Access to Care
Department for more than 15 years. This proposal to create an electronic enrollment and screening tool, HelpEngen, will transform the way CHC does that work. HelpEngen will make the existing eligibility team more efficient and effective. Its ease of use will allow CHC to dramatically increase our capacity to screen, enroll and assist some of most vulnerable and underserved citizens.

CHC will be able to utilize three times as many staff in eligibility work as now, and increase the number of community enrollment locations from 10 to 170. This technology, paired with enhanced data sharing with the state as well as a new education and outreach program at CHC, will also allow CHC staff to manage renewals and rejections proactively which in turn will increase the retention rate.