Project Name: “Gateway to Marketplace”
Project Overview:
Missouri’s “Gateway to Better Health” (GBH) program provided affordable insurance options for the low-income, uninsured community in the St. Louis City and County area. The program was scheduled to sunset on December 31, 2014. A federal extension approved continuation of the program through December 31, 2015, but with reduced eligibility levels, resulting in a loss of coverage for approximately 3,800 GBH members. The Missouri Primary Care Association (MPCA) partnered with four community health centers to launch the “Gateway to Marketplace” project, focused on outreach and enrollment of those who 1) had recently lost GBH health coverage and might be eligible for the Health Insurance Marketplace; 2) were Marketplace-eligible, but hadn’t previously enrolled; and 3) had GBH or Marketplace coverage but hadn’t utilized preventive care service. The intention of the project was to provide a push for enrollments in the first quarter of calendar 2014, and then to sustain interest in coverage through concerted outreach prior to the 2015 open enrollment period. Community health centers partnering with the PCA included the Betty Jean Kerr People’s Health Centers, Affinia Healthcare, Myrtle Hilliard Davis Comprehensive Health Centers, and Family Care Health Centers.
The “Gateway to Marketplace” project goals were to:
- Identify and target ex-Gateway members for enrollment in the Marketplace.
- Encourage utilization of primary and preventive services by Gateway members and ex-Gateway members now enrolled in coverage through the Marketplace.
- Increase awareness of the value of health insurance to help retain coverage.
- Identify ex-Gateway members who opted out of the Marketplace and target them for the subsequent open enrollment period in 2014.
- Continue outreach activities to those ex-Gateway members who enrolled in coverage to demonstrate the value of their coverage, and encourage re-enrollment.
- Demonstrate marginal-revenue-based return on investment (ROI) for each of the partner health centers.
- Share best practices among all Missouri CHCs.
Key Grant Activities
- Working with the St. Louis Regional Health Commission, provided all centers with current data identifying those who were losing coverage.
- Sponsored enrollment events for the targeted populations as well as for consumers interested in Gateway, Medicaid, and Marketplace health coverage.
- Assisted health centers in developing texting, e-mail and robo-calling platforms and deploying those tools for in-reach and outreach.
- Developed enrollment, re-enrollment and utilization messages and that were meaningful, understandable and actionable.
- Provided technical assistance and training to health center staff on tracking and maintaining contacts, demographic information, enrollment and utilization data, as well as tracking electronic messages and follow-up calls.
- Facilitated collaboration among the centers through monthly meetings focused on developing strategy for enrollment messaging, tracking and event planning.
Project Outcomes
- More than 17,680 individuals were reached through outreach across the participating centers, resulting in 1,450 insurance eligibility determinations and 840 enrollments. More than 7,650 patients were contacted for re-enrollment.
- Collaborating partners created a city-wide enrollment day marketed as “Show Me Sign Up” and secured the support of local government and a mayoral proclamation recognizing the day’s events. Information was provided on health plan choices, using coverage, cost-sharing reductions and tax credits, and enrollment was offered on-site.
- Capitalizing on the successful St. Louis event, 15 health centers participated in a “Show Me Sign Up” same-day state-wide campaign producing nearly 20 enrollment events. The event was marketed to the state’s diverse populations via media and fliers translated into Spanish, Somali, and Vietnamese.
- In addition to the city- and state-wide event, more than 100 enrollment events were held.
- Communication across and between the health centers was greatly strengthened resulting in both greater collaboration among the centers, and improved relationships with each centers’ patients.
About the Grantee:
The Missouri Coalition for Primary Health Care d/b/a Missouri Primary Care Association (MPCA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving access to high quality, community based, and affordable primary health care in Missouri.
MPCA represents Missouri’s Community Health Centers and promotes the development of programs and systems that assist in the delivery of high quality, accessible, and personalized primary health care services to urban and rural populations across Missouri. MPCA advocates for policies and programs that assure access to health care for all.
