Outreach and Enrollment Best Practices for Florida’s: Outreach and Enrollment Best Practices for Florida’s: Meeting the Uninsured Where They Are Jodi A. Ray, MA Project Director Florida Covering Kids & Families Covering Tampa Bay 9/13/13

Increase Awareness Increase Enrollment Increase Retention Increase Knowledge Build Relationships Goals Simplify enrollment Coordinate coverage programs Outreach to eligible populations Objectives

What is Outreach?  Involves educating customers  Includes building partnerships  Requires working one-on-one with families.

Outreach Objectives  Identify target population and strategies for developing an approach and setting goals  Develop tips for working with members of the media  Utilize techniques for partnership recruitment and activation  Share ways to retain current enrollees  Use methods for tracking and evaluating your activities

What does it mean?  Brings the application process to the eligible population.  Distance, time, health, cultural and language barriers prevent many eligible families and children from engaging in a face-to-face interview.  Outreach brings the application process closer to their health care providers, homes, work and everyday lives.  Means reaching out from the agencies to the broader community.  Making the eligible population aware of the health coverage available and increasing their knowledge about eligibility criteria and how to apply.

Priorities for Successful Outreach in Florida  Outreach is results driven and connected to actual enrollment  Partners use sound data demonstrating connection  Partners share best practices and lessons learned for potential replication

nThe uninsured population is constantly changing. nNo single outreach event or enrollment campaign can keep pace with this fluid population. nCommunity-based enrollment weaves outreach into the very fabric of a community’s life so that people have access to information and enrollment assistance when and where they need it. Community-based Facilitated Enrollment: Meeting Uninsured New Yorkers Where they are. By The Children’s Aid Society and Children’s Defense Fund – New York. February Point of Information

Florida’s Outreach and Enrollment Program  Places application assistors in communities across Florida to enroll uninsured children  Provides “on-site” and “in-person” enrollment assistance for families in a variety of environments  Follows up with contacts to support families in using and maintaining their coverage  Is always culturally and literacy sensitive and competent  Focuses on partnering with local organizations to reach the uninsured population  Incorporates use of technology through online applications, online case management and follow-up

Reaches People in Their Everyday Routine  Work  Live  Shop  Eat  Pray

Plan of Action  Know your community  Understand your product  Build Bridges  Gather Testimonials  Increase word of mouth  Evaluate the Successes Outreach Marketing: A Resource Guide for KidCare Outreach Coordinators and Providers. Florida Department of Health

Designed to Remove Barriers  Build relationships with trusted community leaders  Ensure that you understand the concerns  Ensure that information is both culturally appropriate and at a literacy level that families can understand

Finding Uninsured  Where are the uninsured kids? Key data indicators give us the best perspective - Small Area Health Insurance Estimates - Census Bureau Poverty Statistics  Use all data sources to build a profile of the area(s) you work in by examining, comparing and contrasting different data points to identify gaps  Data doesn’t give the complete picture but conversations with key stakeholders can help to guide your work

Speak the Language  Help families tackle tough issues through one-on-one assistance  Provide easy-to-read information  Understand the culture  Speak in the native language  Be sensitive to layers of fear and mistrust  Be aware of reluctance to disclose personal information Community-based Facilitated Enrollment: Meeting Uninsured New Yorkers Where they are. By The Children’s Aid Society and Children’s Defense Fund – New York. February 2005.

Gets the Job Done!  Facilitated enrollment keeps people from getting lost along the way to completing an application  Overwhelming successful in ensuring that people who started the process actually completed the application and obtained health insurance  Serves as the “glue” that keeps people from falling through the cracks Community-based Facilitated Enrollment: Meeting Uninsured New Yorkers Where they are. By The Children’s Aid Society and Children’s Defense Fund – New York. February 2005.

…And It’s Cost Effective  Community-based enrollment is one the most effective forms of enrollment  Use of inexpensive outreach strategies such as internal referrals, word-of-mouth between parents  Keeps overhead costs low through use of existing community locations Community-based Facilitated Enrollment: Meeting Uninsured New Yorkers Where they are. By The Children’s Aid Society and Children’s Defense Fund – New York. February 2005.

Key Partners  Partner agencies  Other state agencies: DOE, DOR,  Children’s Hospitals  Schools and school districts  Faith-based organizations  Health Plans  Health departments  CBO’s  Businesses  Military & veteran organizations  Government entities or municipalities

What are you doing?  Application Assistance Program Recruiting assisters in identified areas of need Identifying application sites  Coalition building / grassroots outreach Focusing on housing, health care and other organizations Also reaching out to business community and other state agencies  Training Holding informational sessions and trainings around the state Training assisters, providers and volunteer community partners

Cultural Competency  Competency vs. Awareness  Language  Using Interpreters  Written Materials (English) (Spanish) otherEnglishSpanish  Advocacy

The Multi-Prong Approach  Community Navigator/Certified Application Assistants Sites  Referral program  Community coalitions  Military/Veteran outreach  Business outreach  School based outreach  Children’s hospital based outreach  Faith-based outreach  Press Enrollment Events  Link with Text4Baby  Teen Campaign  ELL & Refugee Outreach

Community Coalitions  19 Local coalitions representing 30 counties  Targeting Hispanic and Haitian populations  Both Urban and Rural  Identifying application assistance sites  Targeting teens and newly unemployed

Referral Program Basics  Establishing a referral arrangement between your program and community organizations is a powerful tool to increase local capacity and get people enrolled  When done correctly, referral programs can be very effective for both the referring organization and your program  Variety of referral methods

Program Evaluation Goal Assess the process, impact and outcome measures of proposed activities intended to increase enrollment

Jodi A. Ray, Project Director