Improving access to affordable, comprehensive, and quality health care!

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School-Based Health Centers

Every child deserves an equal opportunity to be healthy and to succeed in school. Unfortunately, too many children and adolescents in America face financial, geographical, and cultural barriers to health care. School-Based Health Centers are comprehensive health centers located in or near a school. Delivering health services in school settings is a time-proven strategy for breaking down barriers that interfere with a child's learning. School-Based Health Centers also deal with important preventable health concerns such as violence, injury, asthma, obesity and tobacco use by shaping positive decisions and ultimately, behaviors that form lifelong habits.

Today, more than 1,700 school-based health centers serve nearly 2 million students in 46 states. In Kentucky, School-Based Health Centers in 16 schools are serving over 21,000 students. About School-Based Health Centers

We only need to look at the latest statistics...

• One in four children in Kentucky is growing up below the poverty line.
• 30.2% of incoming high school 9th graders do not graduate on time, ranking Kentucky 38th in the country.
• 26% of adults in Kentucky never completed their high school education.
• Over 80,000 Kentucky children are without health insurance.
• 22.1% of Kentucky students have been told by a doctor or nurse that they have asthma - compared to the national median of 19.9%.

A School-Based Health Center (SBHC) is one 21st century answer to these growing issues. By creating the most comprehensive "safety net" at school, routine and serious illnesses can be quickly diagnosed, treated, referred out, and most importantly, followed up on to ensure ongoing health. These models are partnerships created by schools and community health organizations to provide on-site medical, oral, and mental health services that will ultimately improve the educational success of children and adolescents.

In the 2006/2007 school year there were 16 districts in Kentucky providing school based primary care services at approximately 35 schools serving over 21,000 children. Operating expenses for these programs varied from $10,000 to $200,000 depending on the scope of services and hours of operation.

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Benefits of School-Based Health Centers

A recent study funded by the Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati found School-Based Health Centers:

• Generate about $2 in social benefit for each $1 spent on operating costs;
• Save money on care for children in rural areas;
• Save money on hospitalization and emergency room visits for Medicaid children with asthma;
• Encourage the use of more appropriate healthcare services;
• Help African American children get more care;
• Increase mental health care for children;
• Increase dental care for children;
• Provide care for children who have no insurance;
• Support working and single parents;
• Keep children in school and ready to learn.

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Funding of School-Based Health Centers

Funding to support these centers comes from private foundations, local schools, local communities, health departments, primary care centers, hospitals and billings to Medicaid and private insurance. A one-time appropriation for SBHC was approved by the 2006 legislature. Funds varied from $10,000 to $20,000 per SBHC.