Tuscaloosa, AL--The University of Alabama is preparing to lead the state in The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Covering Kids project, a national health access initiative for low-income, uninsured children. The University of Alabama was awarded $983,000 over three years from the RWJ Foundation for Covering Alabama Kids .

Rex E. Culp , PhD, JD, Professor of Human Development and Family Studies and Research Chair in the UA College of Human Environmental Sciences, and John Wheat , MD, MPH, Associate Professor of Community Medicine and Internal Medicine, UA College of Community Health Sciences, are co-lead investigators for the project.

Covering Alabama Kids will involve state and local agencies and the Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation in joint efforts to increase numbers of children enrolled in health insurance programs, said Dr. John Wheat , who initiated Alabama's proposal last spring.

Dr. Culp and Dr. Wheat met with Alabama Governor Don Siegelman and his Children’s Commissioner, Pam Baker , and received their endorsement for the project.

" Covering Alabama Kids project is exactly the type of effort that is needed to promote interagency cooperation and efficiency to maximize the state's efforts in meeting the needs of children," said Children's Commissioner Pam Baker. "The proposal is well thought out and tailored to the needs of Alabama's children. It will serve as a springboard in implementing its successes on a statewide basis. I applaud the efforts of The University of Alabama as it continues to lead in promoting innovative ways to address the needs of children."

L-R: Dr. Rex Culp, Children's Commissioner Pam Baker, Governor Don Seigelman, Tracy Palmer, & John Wheat, MD.

"An estimated 179,000 Alabama children are uninsured," said Covering Alabama Kids Project Director Tracy Palmer , who took the lead role in drafting the grant proposal. Palmer has been working with communities on child health insurance projects in cooperation with the Blue Cross Blue Shield’s Alabama Child Caring Foundation since 1995. She said that children who do not have private insurance coverage can be enrolled into one of three programs which pay for health services -- Medicaid, ALL Kids, or Child Caring insurance.

"There are different eligibility criteria for each," said Palmer, "and the applications are long and confusing. Many do not enroll because they don't know how to fill out the forms."

"Our goal is to work together to simplify the enrollment process for both families and agencies," said Dr. Rex Culp . " Covering Alabama Kids will engage the agencies involved in on-going dialogue to coordinate the application procedures." Covering Alabama Kids will work with Medicaid, the state health department, the state department of human resources, and the Alabama Child Caring Foundation to develop an effective system that identifies and enrolls children through a much-simplified and coordinated process.

"This project not only demonstrates successful joint interaction between colleges at The University, it also involves statewide cooperative efforts to improve health care for children," said Dr. Wheat.

One phase of the project will be to initiate and evaluate pilot projects that, if successful, can be implemented statewide. Pilot projects will be conducted in three counties--Coosa, Jefferson, and Washington--and outreach will be a major component.

In March, a Site Visit Team from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) met with representatives of The University of Alabama and partnering agencies to discuss plans for the Alabama project. The team included Sandra Robinson , MD, of the RWJF National Advisory Committee; Judy Whang , Senior Program Officer; and Sarah Shuptrine , Director of the National Program Office.

Participating in the Site Visit meeting were: Tracy Palmer, Dr. Rex Culp, and Dr. John Wheat from The University of Alabama; and pilot site representatives Marty Rittmann (Coosa County), Jan Roberts-Jolly and Wanda Braun (Washington County), and Terry Gunnell (Jefferson County). Albert Rohling, Executive Director, Alabama Child Caring Foundation, represented the organization created by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama which helps to insure children not eligible for other health insurance programs. Attending the meeting to show support for the project were Cary Kuhlman, Executive Director, Medical Association of the State of Alabama; John Hagen, Director, Rural Alabama Area Health Education Center (AHEC); Alan Yoe, Executive Director, Southwest Alabama AHEC; and Mary Weidler, Alabama Arise.

State agencies which will be collaborating in this project were well represented at the Site Visit. State Public Health officials included: Donald Williamson, MD, State Health Officer; Clyde Bargainier, PhD, Director, Office of Rural Health; Gayle Sandlin, Director, ALL-Kids; Tom Miller, MD, Director, Bureau of Family Services; Connie McMicheal, Nutrition Services; Jim McVay, Director, Health Promotion; Sharon Parker, Children with Special Health Care Needs. Sarah Mingledorff, Deputy Commissioner of Alabama Medicaid, and Gretel Felton from Medicaid's Family Certification Division also attended. The Department of Human Resources was represented by Margaret Livingston, Program Manager, Children and Family Services; and Jeanetta Green, Child Care Subsidy Supervisor. Gaye Morgan attended from the Department of Education.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, based in Princeton, New Jersey, is the nation’s largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to health and health care. It became a national institution in 1972 with receipt of a bequest from the industrialist whose name it bears, and has since made more than $2.6 billion in grants. The Foundation concentrates its grantmaking in three goal areas: to assure that all Americans have access to basic health care at reasonable cost; to improve the way services are organized and provided to people with chronic health conditions; and to reduce the personal, social, and economic harm caused by substance abuse -- tobacco, alcohol, and illicit drugs.

For more information, contact: Tracy Palmer, Project Director, Covering Alabama Kids , UA College of Human Environmental Sciences, Box 870158, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0158. (205) 348-1389. tpalmer@ches.ua.edu. Or UA College of Community Health Sciences, Box 870326, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0326.

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