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If you are enrolled in CHIP through Highmark, you can obtain help from a medically trained Health Coach at NO cost.

History

Program Origin, Development and Implementation

photoThe Caring Program: Care Coordination for Children with Special Health Care Needs grew out of listening to families and to the community in 2004.

However, years before this, in 1989, the Highmark Caring Foundation was at work in meeting the needs of children with chronic conditions and/or special health care needs.

In that year, the Caring Foundation was awarded a four-year Special Projects of Regional and National Significance (SPRANS) grant from the Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB), Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, in order to provide care coordination services through a pilot program for children enrolled in the Caring Foundation's pioneering program for uninsured children. Due to funding restrictions and the multiple priorities of the Caring Foundation at the time, the program was placed on hold at the completion of the grant.

The families who participated in that program indicated that one of the greatest needs they experienced was the need for more and/or better information and referrals. That same need was identified again in December, 2004, when the Highmark Caring Foundation conducted focus groups with families who had children with special health care needs.

The Highmark Caring Foundation listened, learned and responded. In 2004, the Caring Foundation implemented its innovative free care coordination program—the Caring Program.

The Caring Program was designed to provide family-centered community-based care coordination for children enrolled in Pennsylvania's Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) through Highmark.

Current Status

As a result of the successful efforts of the Caring Program and the positive outcomes evaluation conducted in 2007 by the University of Pittsburgh, Graduate School of Public Health, the Caring Program was integrated into Highmark's Healthcare Management Services Department. The integration from the Caring Foundation into Highmark's corporate division will potentially enable the Program to expand in the future to help meet the needs of more children enrolled in Highmark's health insurance products.

The Caring Program currently provides the following services for children enrolled in CHIP through Highmark:

  • Care Coordination services
  • Case Management services
  • Disease Management services for the following conditions:
    • Asthma
    • Diabetes
    • Obesity
    • Tobacco use, prevention and cessation