Healthy Students, Promising Futures

The Healthy Students, Promising Futures Learning Collaborative supports states and school districts in increasing access to school health services.

About the Healthy Students, Promising Futures Learning Collaborative

Healthy Schools Campaign and Trust for America’s Health co-convene the Healthy Students, Promising Futures Learning Collaborative to support increased access to school health services through Medicaid reimbursement. The collaborative launched in July 2016.

State teams include representatives from the state education agency, state Medicaid agency, school districts, and state and local advocates. Current participating states include:

California
Colorado
District of Columbia
Illinois
Massachusetts
Minnesota
Mississippi
Nebraska
New Jersey
New York
Ohio
South Carolina
Tennessee
Virginia
Washington

National Partner Organizations

State teams are supported by a network of national partner organizations, including:

Rethinking School Health Services

Research shows that healthy students learn better, and that school-based health services, both physical and mental, are critical to supporting student health and wellness. Increasing access to school health services is a key strategy for improving children’s access to healthcare and the quality of care they receive.

Despite this, more than half of public schools currently do not have a full-time school nurse or school counselor, and less than five percent of the nation’s students have access to services through a school-based health center. Low-income schools are more likely to have no school nurse or have a higher ratio of students to nurses when compared to higher-income schools.

Schools can and should be a part of the health system. With more than 49 million children attending public schools across the country, schools present an important and efficient opportunity to reach vulnerable and underserved children, thereby supporting children’s health and achievement, while reducing overall healthcare costs.

Recent policy changes present new opportunities to better integrate schools within the health system. In December 2014, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services clarified that the Medicaid free care policy does not apply to school health services, removing a major barrier to accessing funding for school health services. This policy change, coupled with a healthcare system that prioritizes prevention, population health, care coordination and chronic disease management, presents important opportunities to increase access to and resources for school health services, both physical and mental.

Now, states, school districts, health systems, public health agencies and community health providers must come together to rethink how school health services are delivered and leverage these policy opportunities to create more comprehensive and coordinated care in schools.

In 2016, with support from Healthy Schools Campaign and Trust for America’s Health, the U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services launched the Healthy Students, Promising Futures Learning Collaborative to support states and school districts in implementing strategies to increase access to school health services through Medicaid reimbursement. Healthy Schools Campaign and Trust for America’s Health now co-convene this initiative with the support of over a dozen national partner organizations.

The Learning Collaborative Model

The Healthy Students, Promising Futures Learning Collaborative brings together state teams committed to increasing access to school health services through Medicaid reimbursement. All participating state teams convene in person in Washington, D.C., twice per year for peer-to-peer learning and to receive targeted technical assistance. In addition, participating state teams receive ongoing technical assistance throughout the year from national partner organizations and content experts.

The collaborative focuses on topics such as:

Federal and state policies that impact school-based health services and can be leveraged to expand services for children enrolled in Medicaid
Different models for delivering school-based health services
Collaboration among states experiencing similar challenges in similar contexts to promote the sharing of ideas and best practices for scaling systemic improvement
Opportunities for deepening state and local relationships with national nonprofit partners that could enhance capacity at the state and local levels to sustain the work

December 2017 Meeting

Agenda, Participants and Background Materials

Download Packet

Slides

Breakout Sessions

Case Studies

School-based Mental and Behavioral Health in Columbus, Ohio
Through a partnership with Columbus City Schools (CCS), Nationwide Children’s Hospital provides the licensed mental health professionals and training for school personnel to implement evidence-based school-wide prevention programs for students and teachers, in addition to providing primary care services through their Care Connection school-based clinics and mobile care centers.

Investing in Prevention in Toledo, Ohio
Non-profit health system ProMedica invests in making sure there is a school nurse in every Toledo Public School because data shows that school nurses keep kids healthy, improve attendance and prevent costly hospital trips.

Data Informs Care in Austin, Texas
By using a process known as acuity analysis, Austin Independent School District and Dell Children’s Medical Center work together to analyze data such as insurance coverage, number of illness visits to school nurses and the number of students receiving case management for chronic conditions to determine the most effective way to spread resources across the district’s schools.

Embedding Health Teams to Improve Student Health in Grand Rapids, Michigan
A 20-year partnership between Grand Rapids Public Schools and Spectrum Health has produced a flexible model that is used in districts throughout the region. Embedded school nurses oversee effective on-site delivery of healthcare, and the program utilizes a variety of funding streams to provide effective care.

Sharing Data to Meet Student Health Needs in Washington, D.C.
An innovative data-sharing agreement allows the D.C. Public Schools, Department of Health and Department of Health Care Finance (the District’s Medicaid agency) to effectively target outreach and resources to schools and students with the greatest unmet needs.

Evidence-based Prevention in Lane County, Oregon
Trillium Community Health Plan Coordinated Care Organization (CCO) and Lane County Health and Human Services (HHS) work together to prevent tobacco and drug use and improve access to care, including funding teacher training and implementation of the evidence-based prevention programs, such as the PAX Good Behavior Game, in Lane County schools.