Assessment of Outreach Strategies Designed to Increase Enrollment in the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP)

When Ohio eligibility standards for CHIP were increased to 150% of the federal poverty level in 1998, funds for outreach activities to increase enrollment in the program were made available to all Ohio counties. A variety of outreach strategies were used by funded counties, including mass media, outstationing of workers, direct assistance with application completion, and many others. To assess the effectiveness of outreach efforts, we first evaluated the success of counties in increasing their percentage of eligible children enrolled in CHIP. We identified the counties with the greatest percentage increase in enrolled eligible children between January 1, 1998 and December 31, 1999. Of these, we chose five rural and five urban/suburban counties in which to conduct focus groups identifying most and least successful outreach strategies with program administrators, direct line staff, and consumers. This presentation will focus on the results of this qualitative assessment of outreach strategies. Specific focus group methodology and factors affecting successful outreach in urban, suburban, and rural counties will be presented.