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Session Title: Evaluation of Novel Children's Health Insurance Programs in California: Balancing the Needs of Evaluators, Funding Agencies, and Program Directors
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Panel Session 277 to be held in the Granite Room Section B on Thursday, Nov 6, 10:55 AM to 12:25 PM
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Sponsored by the Health Evaluation TIG
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| Chair(s): |
| Gregory Stevens,
University of Southern California,
gstevens@usc.edu
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| Abstract:
In California, new local health insurance programs have been developed in 28 counties to provide coverage for low-income children who are not eligible for other programs (primarily because they are undocumented immigrants). The programs--known as Healthy Kids--are locally designed, funded, and operated and face sustainability challenges despite providing exceptional access to care for vulnerable children. Philanthropies have been heavily involved in funding these programs and their evaluation. Because of the range of stakeholders, evaluators and their funding agencies must balance the need for independent evaluation with the pressing need to provide relevant and timely impact data to the respective boards. Program directors of the health insurance programs also have a need for compelling outcomes data to market themselves effectively to funders and policymakers. These experiences were heightened as all involved in the evaluation pursued statewide policy change to provide public coverage for all children. This session highlights the successes and challenges in this evaluation effort from the evaluator, funding agencies, and program directors.
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Perspectives of the Center for Community Health Studies Evaluators
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| Michael Cousineau,
University of Southern California,
cousinea@usc.edu
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Dr. Cousineau is a co-principal investigator of the statewide evaluation of the Healthy Kids programs. He will describe the overall evaluation design, the process of incorporating the interests of two funding agencies, and the process of working closely with the Healthy Kids program directors. In addition, he will describe his perspective on the successes and challenges of carrying out such controversial and policy-relevant research in the context of health care reform efforts.
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Perspectives of The California Endowment
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| Lori Nascimento,
The California Endowment,
lnascimento@calendow.org
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Ms. Nascimento is an evaluation officer with The California Endowment, one of the largest health- and health care-focused philanthropies in California. The Endowment is a major funder of Healthy Kids programs. She will describe the major aims and needs of the evaluation from the perspective of a funding agency with a long history of efforts to improve health care access for vulnerable populations. She will explain the needs of the Endowment for timely data that is reported to a board of directors with particular interests, as well as how data from the evaluation is shared with advocacy organizations that receive grants funds from the Endowment to advocate for expanding children's health insurance.
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Perspectives of the California First 5 Commission
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| Stacie Sormano,
California's Children and Families Commission,
ssormano@ccfc.ca.gov
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Ms. Sormano is the Deputy Director of Research and Evaluation for First 5 California. First 5 California (a quasi-government agency established through tobacco taxes) is a major funder of the Healthy Kids programs. She will describe the major aims and needs of the evaluation from the perspective of a funding agency whose directive is to improve the health of children early in life (specifically, ages 0-5 years). She will explain the needs of First 5 for timely outcomes data that is a reported to a board of directors with strong interests in re-balancing their portfolio of programs with the largest impacts on the health of young children
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Perspectives of the Healthy Kids Program Directors
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| Kena Burke,
Children’s Health Initiative of San Luis Obispo,
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A fourth speaker will be a Director from one of the Healthy Kids Programs. At the time of submission, a statewide coalition of Healthy Kids directors had not yet decided who would represent the programs for this presentation, but had committed to participating. The speaker, who most likely will be the chair of the statewide coalition, will discuss the needs of the Healthy Kids programs for timely information from the evaluation in order to market their programs to county supervisors, funding agencies, and state legislators. The interactive process between the program directors, funding agencies and evaluators will be highlighted.
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