UCLA–Missouri Head Start partnership gets $1.1M for health training program
UCLA Anderson to guide training of families across nation; dramatic savings for Medicaid when parents learn to care for children's illnesses
By Susanna Park
March 10, 2009
An innovative program that proves a dose of hands-on health care training can transform parents' ability to care for common childhood ailments at home — saving Medicaid millions of dollars annually — has been awarded a $1.1 million grant by the U.S. Office of Head Start (OHS) to train thousands more families nationwide.
Head Start awarded the "Innovation and Improvement" grant to the Central Missouri Community Action Head Start (CMCA) program, which will partner with the UCLA/Johnson & Johnson Health Care Institute at the UCLA Anderson School of Management's Price Center for Entrepreneurial Studies to further expand the Health Care Institute's successful model of providing low-literacy health care training for Head Start parents.
In 2001, the CMCA served as the pilot site for the Health Care Institute. Since then, the institute has reached nearly 27,000 Head Start families nationwide, cooperating with nearly 120 Head Start agencies.
The grant announcement was made by Al Osborne, professor and senior associate dean at UCLA Anderson and faculty director of the Price Center. The Price Center created the program with Johnson & Johnson as an outgrowth of the partners' successful Head Start Fellows Program, which has provided M.B.A. training to more than 1,100 Head Start directors.
"UCLA Anderson's commitment to social entrepreneurship has allowed our partnership with Johnson & Johnson and OHS to produce important benefits for underserved communities through our association with Head Start directors, many of whom have been trained by the Fellows Program," Osborne said. "The Health Care Institute is the national model for how best to provide low-literacy health education to Head Start parents."
Called "I Can Help My Child Stay Healthy: Innovations in Head Start Literacy Training," the program will extend Health Care Institute training to an additional 8,000 families nationwide over three years.
"Our mission is to enable child- and family-focused organizations to effectively increase the health literacy of parents through a comprehensive training and support program that gives them the knowledge, confidence and resources to care for common childhood illnesses at home," said Ariella Herman, research director of the Health Care Institute at the Price Center.
Training has big impact on families and costs
In a groundbreaking pilot study published in 2004, Health Care Institute researchers demonstrated the impact of educating and empowering Head Start parents to treat everyday childhood ailments such as fevers, colds and earaches at home. Visits to the emergency room were reduced by 58 percent and visits to doctors and clinics were reduced by 41 percent, while missed school days and workdays dropped by 29 percent and 42 percent, respectively — results that held steady as the pilot program expanded.
The researchers estimated that potential savings to Medicaid could reach $554 per family in direct costs — more than half a billion dollars annually — if health literacy training were provided for the nearly 1 million families served by Head Start, many of whom depend on government assistance.
Pat Brown, acting director of the Office of Head Start, called the partnership between the CMCA and the Health Care Institute at UCLA a "dynamic and successful new model that helps Head Start families gain fundamental health care training in a hands-on setting that also fosters confidence-building and empowerment among parents."
"Improving the health literacy of Head Start families and, therefore, the health of children we serve, is of vital importance to the Office of Head Start," Brown said. "This type of partnership is essential to Head Start's ability to pursue its mission to give young children a jump-start in learning."
A three-year plan
The national rollout, which will span 10 Head Start regions, will begin with the CMCA training approximately 2,000 families in Missouri in 2009. Another 3,000 families in the East Coast regions will follow in 2010, and the final 3,000 families in the West will be trained in 2011. Head Start regions covering migrant and seasonal/Native American families can apply to participate in either of the second or third years of the grant.
According to Darin Pries, executive director of the CMCA, when families are healthy, parents are more likely to be able to focus on long-term goals and make decisions that lead them out of poverty.
"'I Can Help My Child Stay Healthy' fits perfectly into our strategic plan to address health care issues and help families take control of their own success and achieve self-reliance," he said.
States adopting training model
The success of the Health Care Institute program has attracted the attention of state governments interested in supporting families with low-literacy health training and containing emergency room and clinic costs.
The state of New Mexico adopted the Health Care Institute's training program, with support from Pfizer Inc., to train 5,000 Head Start families. The institute is also currently working with the state of Washington — with the support of the state Legislature — on a statewide training program that will conclude in 2010.
"We hope the 'I Can' collaboration will inspire other states and organizations to support similar programs, expanding the benefits of health care literacy training to countless families across the country," Herman said.
Head Start is a national program that promotes school readiness by enhancing the social and cognitive development of children through the provision of educational, health, nutritional, social and other services to enrolled children and families. Within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Office of Head Start resides under the Administration for Children and Families, a federal agency funding state, territory, local and tribal organizations to provide family assistance (welfare), child support, child care, Head Start, child welfare and other programs relating to children and families.
The UCLA/Johnson & Johnson Health Care Institute was inspired by Head Start directors who graduated from the Head Start–Johnson & Johnson Management Fellows Program, an annual training program held at the UCLA Anderson School of Management. Founded in 1991, it is the only executive management program of its kind. In 2000, a survey of Head Start–Johnson & Johnson Fellows from around the U.S. revealed a shared concern: Head Start parents simply lacked the time and basic health care knowledge to become better informed about their children's health. From a pilot program in 2001, the Health Care Institute has reached nearly 27,000 Head Start families nationwide, cooperating with nearly 120 Head Start agencies.
The Harold and Pauline Price Center for Entrepreneurial Studies oversees teaching, research, extracurricular and community activities related to entrepreneurship at the UCLA Anderson School of Management. The Price Center provides a set of academic and extracurricular experiences designed to prepare M.B.A. students for the challenge of business management in entrepreneurial environments. Course offerings are aimed at developing skills and methodologies useful to managers responsible for marshaling resources for new wealth-creation, rather than simply the administration of existing wealth. "I Can Help My Child Stay Healthy" is rooted in the Price Center's decades-long commitment to Head Start agencies and the children and families they serve.
The UCLA Anderson School of Management, established in 1935, is regarded among the leading business schools in the world. UCLA Anderson faculty members are advancing management thinking through innovative research and teaching. Each year, UCLA Anderson provides management education to more than 1,700 students enrolled in M.B.A., executive M.B.A., fully-employed M.B.A. and doctoral programs, and to more than 2,000 professional managers through executive education programs. Combining highly selective admissions, varied and innovative learning programs, and a worldwide network of 36,000 alumni, UCLA Anderson prepares global leaders.