Improving access to health care: case management for vulnerable children
Berkowitz, G.; Halfon, N.; Klee, L.
Social Work in Health Care 17(1): 101-123
1992
ISSN/ISBN: 0098-1389 PMID: 1440106 DOI: 10.1300/j010v17n01_07Document Number: 552110
Health care providers are being confronted by a change in childhood morbidity from primarily physical problems to complex problems rooted in the social, family, and environmental conditions that accompany persistent urban poverty. The clustering of multiple problems in one family necessitates redefining preventive and treatment strategies. Yet the lack of coordination among federal, state and local service programs often exacerbates the vulnerability of these beleaguered children and families. Therapeutic case management is a powerful service coordination strategy for increasing access and improving the health of vulnerable children. An ongoing evaluation of one case management model at the Center for the Vulnerable Child at Children's Hospital in Oakland, California is described in this article. Process evaluation data show this model to be effective in improving comprehensiveness and continuity of care among participating families.