title: Tribal benefits counseling program: expanding health care opportunities for tribal members.
abstract: American Indian tribal clinics hired benefits counselors to increase the number of patients with public and private insurance coverage, expand the range of health care options available to tribal members, and increase third-party revenues for tribal clinics. Benefits counselors received intensive training, technical assistance, and evaluation over a 2-year period. Six tribal clinics participated in the full training program, including follow-up, process evaluation, and outcomes reporting. Participating tribal sites experienced a 78% increase in Medicaid enrollment among pregnant women and children, compared with a 26% enrollment increase statewide during the same period. Trained benefits counselors on-site at tribal clinics can substantially increase third-party insurance coverage among patients.
authors.affiliation: University of Wisconsin Medical School, Madison, Wisconsin, USA. dafriedsam@facstaff.wisc.edu
authors.forename: Donna
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Friedsam
authors.forename: Gretchen
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Haug
authors.forename: Mike
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rust
authors.forename: Amy
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lake
mesh_terms: D003376:Counseling; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D040361:Healthy People Programs; D006801:Humans; D007198:Indians, North American / Q000193:education*; D019458:Insurance Coverage; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008484:Medicaid / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017057:Medically Uninsured / Q000208:ethnology*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D013192:Staff Development; D013221:State Health Plans; D014481:United States; D014922:Wisconsin