Health Plans
Our health plan partners help facilitate and implement the health outreach programs in schools and districts. They are often our connection to the communities, with which they are very familiar. THK Health Outreach serves as the coordinating body, establishing relationships with the school districts and teacher associations. THK Health Outreach also provides the health plan partners with incentives and other materials to support their efforts in the schools.
Learn more about how as a health plan partner, you can work with schools and school districts to enroll children in now or low cost health insurance.
Project Steps and Overview
The THK Health Outreach program has health plan partners who serve on an advisory committee that helps identify target areas and establish program goals. Based on their guidance, the program is currently operating comprehensive outreach projects in the following counties:
- Los Angeles County
- Riverside County
- Sacramento County
- San Diego County
- San Bernardino County
Once a school district or teachers association decides it would like to participate in an outreach program, THK will contact that district and teachers association to arrange for a preliminary meeting. At this meeting, THK presents to the school district and teacher association staff on the following:
- The importance of health and health coverage as it relates to academic achievement, absenteeism, and the general wellbeing of the child.
- The typical process for implementing a health outreach project.
THK then discusses with the school district the project structure that would work best for families, the number of schools they would like to initially target for outreach, and the type of results reporting that would be most beneficial to the district.
After this initial meeting, the health plan partners are brought into the process during which they meet with their assigned school partners and discuss the outreach project’s implementation.
In the years that THK Health Outreach has been working with schools and districts, THK has experimented with many project structures. From the lessons learned, THK has formulated a program that has shown to have significant positive results. However, THK still works closely with the district to ensure that whatever program is developed works for their district. The following is an overview of a typical process, which is modified where needed:
- Each health plan is assigned to an equal number of schools of relatively equal size within the district (e.g. each health plan is assigned to two middle schools and one elementary school).
- The health plan partners meet with their assigned schools to discuss the program with the principal or other identified school staff, such as a school nurse or health coordinator. During this meeting, the health plan partner arranges a time to do a presentation at a regularly scheduled teachers’ meeting.
- The health plan partner, often with the school nurse or a district health staff member, gives a presentation to teachers explaining the importance of health insurance, describing the program, and providing the teachers with materials.
- Each teacher receives a teacher bag and envelope with a class set of surveys. See an example of our surveys.
- Teachers are shown the incentives students will receive if they return their surveys: stickers for students grades K through 3rd and calculators for students grades 4th through 6th. Middle school and high school students may be entered in a raffle to receive an appropriate prize, if the school approves.
- Teachers are also informed that the class with the highest rate of return will receive a sandwich party (or similar) and/or the teacher will receive a gift certificate to an office supply store.
- The teachers are asked to pass out the surveys to their students and collect them and place them in their original envelope within 10 days.
- The teacher sends the collected surveys to the school’s office where they are picked up by the health plan partner.
- The health plan partner provides the school and teachers with the incentives.
- The health plan partner or a community based organization calls and enrolls all interested children and families in no or low cost health insurance. If there are large numbers of interested families and the school approves, an enrollment event may be held at the school for the interested parents.
- The results of the project are reported back to the school and THK. THK will compile the results from all the schools and report the information to the district.
To see all the incentives and materials provided to teachers and schools, click here.
There are many ways in which this program can be modified to meet the needs of the schools from arranging enrollment events to foregoing teacher presentations to altering incentives. However, over the years of implementing health outreach projects, this has been the most effective way to promote the enrollment of children and their families in no or low cost health insurance.
Health plan partners are encouraged to continue their relationships with their assigned schools beyond the first outreach project. The partners are encouraged to attend back to school nights, open houses, health fairs, and to collect surveys throughout the year by working with the school office staff so new students entering the school and current students losing their insurance can be enrolled.
Additionally, as the project continues, if the health plan partners have trouble making contact in schools or identify a school in which they are interested in working, THK will establish contact with the school and help develop a relationship.
If you would like to get involved with our outreach projects, please contact us.