Children's Health Insurance Outreach to Displaced Employees Since April 2008, Hawaii Covering Kids has been participating in numerous activities to inform laid-off employees about health insurance options for their children. For more details, please click on the link above. Recent Media Coverage “Health Insurance for Grandchildren” on KHON2 Elderhood Project, Honolulu, July 31, 2008. “Hope rises in wake of cuts; Laid-off ML&P workers look at future options” in The Maui News, Honolulu, July 30, 2008. “Unemployed urged to get kids on QUEST” in The Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Honolulu, April 18, 2008. “Kids eligible for free insurance” in The Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Honolulu, September 12, 2007. National Covering Kids and Families Network The NCKF Network sustains and builds upon the strength and collective expertise of grantees from the original national Covering Kids and Families initiative, other agencies, and partners. It is composed of organizations and individuals committee to advancing health insurance coverage and equal access to high quality health care. More information and a membership form are available on the Community Health Councils web site. Children's Health Insurance Eligibility Forum On April 16, Hawaii Covering Kids sponsored two national speakers, Edwin Park from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and Caroline Rivas from Community Health Councils, who presented information about recent federal policies and their implications for our children's health insurance programs. Topics included CHIP Reauthorization, CMS's August 17 Directive, and CMS's Payment Error Rate Measurement (PERM) program. There were also updates about the National Covering Kids & Families Network and Hawaii's progress towards covering all kids with health insurance. Click on this link for a PDF copy of the presentations: April 2008 Children's Health Insurance Policy Forum in Hawaii. Maui Children's Health Day We partnered with Community Clinic of Maui for this annual AlohaCare event on 21 March 2008. In addition to activities and giveaways, Hawaii Covering Kids placed advertisements in four newspapers--Haleakala Times, Lahaina Times, Maui News, and Maui Weekly--encouraging families to visit our booth. Immigrant Media Campaign: Phase 3 We completed our media campaign segments targeting parents and guardians with lawful permanent resident children. Phase 3 focused on Japanese, Latino, and Tongan families. Details and a comprehensive report are at Immigrant Media Campaigns. State Representatives Honor Hawaii Covering Kids A special presentation was held on 2 April 2007 in the House of Representatives chambers honoring and celebrating the accomplishments of our project's partners. Representative Green and Representative Mizuno introduced the project and other state representatives also expressed accolades for hard work and dedication to helping Hawaii's children and youths. The Hawaii Covering Kids project director, Barbara Luksch, and Hawaii Primary Care Assocation chief executive officer, Beth Giesting, were presented framed certificates and the House of Representatives passed a resolution "Commending HAWAII COVERING KIDS for its accomplishments in reducing the number of uninsured children and youth in Hawaii and expressing appreciation for its assistance in enrolling Hawaii's children and youth in QUEST and MEDICAID Fee-for-Service programs." You can view and download a PDF version of the resolution by clicking here: House Resolution 295. This tribute recognized the power of collaborative efforts dedicated to a goal focused on the health and well-being of our children. Hawaii Covering Kids partners were cited as "unsung heroes" working tirelessly throughout Hawaii's communities to improve children's lives through comprehensive outreach, planning, coordination, and health insurance application assistance. Finally, Speaker Say adjourned for a short recess so state representatives could meet Barbara and Beth and impart individual congratulations. Hawaii Covering Kids offered appreciation for their partnership because leadership from lawmakers has been a crucial part of our success. 3. Insured v. Uninsured Newborns Research conducted by the Hawaii Health Information Corporation shows a decrease in the annual number of uninsured newborns from an average of 520 (1995-1999) to an average of 396 (2000-2007). Recently, there were 532 uninsured newborns in 2006 and 454 uninsured newborns in 2007 representing only 2.8% and 2.4% of newborns respectively. Data are available by island and geographic areas in PDF format: Hawaii Newborn Discharges Insured v. Uninsured 4. Hawaii Hospital Emergency Department Visits When our project began in June 1999, our Evaluation Task Force decided an important indicator to help measure our success is a decrease in emergency room visits by uninsured children and youth. Teh most recent 2000-2006 data are available in PDF format: Hospital Emergency Department Visits Insured v. Uninsured 2000-2006 Multilingual Flyers Our flyer is available in these languages: Cambodian, Chinese, Chuukese, English, Hawaiian, Ilocano, Japanese, Korean, Kosraean, Laotian, Marshallese, Pohnpeian, Samoan, Spanish, Tagalog, Thai, Tongan, Vietnamese, Visayan, and Yapese. Copies can be downloaded at Flyers and Media Outreach Campaigns. We will post more translated versions as they become available. Community Training Workshops We collaborate with Med-QUEST to conduct ninety-minute sessions called "Enrolling Children and Youth in QUEST and Medicaid" so community organizations can help families complete Med-QUEST's application and eliminate enrollment barriers. Since November 2003, we have sponsored 52 workshops for 600 participants from 89 organizations on 6 islands. If your organization is interested in this FREE opportunity, email Barbara at coverkids@aol.com or call 536-8442. An informational flyer can be downloaded in PDF format by clicking here: Community Training Workshops.