Community Health Plans: Supporting a Healthy School Year

August 25, 2020

As COVID-19 continues to impact almost every aspect of our daily lives, families in communities across the country are now grappling with how best to keep children healthy as they transition back to school.

Deeply rooted in the communities they serve, the nonprofit members of the Alliance of Community Health Plans (ACHP) are serving as trusted sources of important health information and providing actionable steps to ensure everyone a successful start to the academic year. Whether this means back-to-school checkups or in-classroom protocol, ACHP plans are supporting a safe and healthy transition this fall. For example:

• UPMC Health Plan is improving access to virtual care for check-ups and sick visits, as well as expanding pediatric behavioral health services to help meet both the physical and emotional health care needs of children and families. In addition, family-centered coaching sessions are available to help support healthy habits.
• Marshfield Clinic Health System‘s “Back to School 2020” guide provides tips and resources for families including doable ways to prioritize emotional health, ways to stay healthy at in-person school, ideas for connecting home and school, and self-care for parents.
• UCare is personally reaching out to over 2,700 members a day to schedule child and teen check-ups and necessary vaccinations, helping keep kids healthy.
• Martin’s Point Health Care is offering parents a healthy child checklist with recommendations related to medications and rebooting sleep schedules.
• Kaiser Permanente is distributing a total of $1.5 million in Thriving Schoolsmental health grants to support COVID-19 prevention efforts, including expanded testing, social distancing support, and safe meal distribution to food insecure students.

We’re still settling into the realities associated with COVID-19 and our new normal. ACHP members are committed to the health and wellbeing of their communities while also supporting a seamless and safe transition back to school.

Additional information on efforts of ACHP plans and their affiliated systems during this public health crisis is available here.

Please reach out to Dan Lemle with any questions.