Emergency Room Visits Drop Six Percent for Children in Kent County, Michigan

OPEN MINDS Weekly News Wire Strategic Health Care News By increasing children’s access to primary care, the Children’s Healthcare Access Program (CHAP) in Kent County, Michigan—run by First Steps, in partnership with Michigan insurer Priority Health and the Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital—has reduced emergency room usage and hospitalizations among participants by six percent since CHAP started in August 2008. CHAP serves 15,000 children in Kent County—all enrolled in Priority Health Medicaid. CHAP took a three-pronged approach to increasing children’s access to care. To create more openings in private practice for children . . .