AZ statewide connecting kids to coverage collaborative of health centers/FQHCS & other community-based organizations focused on enrolling eligible children, parents, & pregnant women in…

AZ statewide connecting kids to coverage collaborative of health centers/FQHCS & other community-based organizations focused on enrolling eligible children, parents, & pregnant women in medicaid/CHIP - the arizona association of community health centers (DBA arizona alliance for community health centers, aachc), located in phoenix, arizona, has been a leader in connecting children and families to medicaid and the children's health insurance program (CHIP) through the connecting kids to coverage (CKC) cooperative agreement since 2019. As arizona's primary care association, aachc works closely with all 25 of arizona's health centers/federally qualified health centers (FQHCS) to advance access to high-quality primary healthcare across the state through the provision of training, technical assistance, and programmatic support. Arizona has the second highest uninsured rate for children in the country. Arizona's total uninsured rate is two percent higher than the national average, and childhood uninsured rates are over three percent higher. Although arizona saw a slight decrease in the total number of uninsured individuals in 2023, its rate of uninsured children saw a slight increase, demonstrating a clear need to continue efforts focused on children, parents, and pregnant women. Over the last six years, aachc has supported the successful efforts of health centers/FQHCS and other community-based partners to enroll and retain over 63,000 eligible children, parents, and pregnant women in medicaid and CHIP. Aachc was a leader in keeping arizonans informed on the unwinding of the continuous coverage protection and partnering with arizona's state medicaid agency on retention during the redetermination period. Aachc is requesting $600,000 annually to build upon this success by using a combination of existing collaborative partners from the 2022-2025 funding cycle and two new partners. The majority of funds will support 10 partners providing outreach and enrollment services, with the remaining funds supporting aachc's ability to administer the cooperative agreement. The collaborative is made up of eight health center/fqhc partners (adelante healthcare, chiricahua community health centers, INC., EL RIO health, north country healthcare, neighborhood outreach access to health, sunset health, valleywise health, and wesley community and health centers) and two grassroots partners (chicanos POR LA causa and helping families in need). Partners were selected based on their extensive experience in medicaid and CHIP enrollment with hard-to-reach populations, established partnerships and community rapport in their respective service areas, and a deep commitment to reaching uninsured children, parents, and pregnant women. Aachc has set a goal of enrolling a total of 44,225 children, parents, and pregnant women during the five-year project period. Partners will provide services in five counties across the state, two of which (maricopa and pima) house more than 76% of arizona's population. During the initial 90 days of the CKC project, aachc will provide collaborative partners with technical assistance around the latest medicaid and CHIP eligibility and enrollment procedures and work to refine workplans based on the needs of the community and the project goals. Partners will create linguistically appropriate materials for the target populations and begin or continue partnerships with schools and other community-based organizations to conduct outreach activities. Aachc will continue monitoring progress of all partners and leverage the knowledge and experiences of the collective group to enhance the collaborative's ability to successfully enroll eligible children, parents, and pregnant women in medicaid and CHIP and conduct community outreach and marketing activities to promote the medicaid/CHIP program. Aachc will also leverage the cover arizona coalition and kids outreach coalition to engage stakeholders and create community awareness around the availability of medicaid and CHIP coverage for children, parents, and pregnant women.