Public and Private Partnerships

One of the key strategic priorities of DC Health is to expand public and private partnerships. DC Title V embodies this goal by leveraging government and non-governmental partners to implement systems level approaches to quality health care services and utilization among the MCH population.  The DC Title V program collaborates with sister agencies including the Department of Health Care Finance (DHCF-the District’s Medicaid agency), the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE), the Department of Behavioral Health (DBH), DC Public Schools, and DC Public Charter Schools in a variety of ways with the goal of improving maternal and child health outcomes. One of the key mechanisms for collaboration is the School Health Requirements Interagency Committee (SHRIC). The SHRIC is a formal partnership between DC Health, DHCF and DC Public Schools (DCPS) to ensure District children receive oral health and preventive health care services. The District’s school health requirements are a critical tool for ensuring families are engaging in routine primary and preventive care. In the past, each agency independently engaged in strategies to increase numbers of students with wellness exams, including oral health and immunizations. The SHRIC was formed in an effort to coordinate the efforts of the three agencies. The bedrock of the SHRIC is a data-sharing agreement among the three agencies. Through the agreement, the agencies are able to synthesize student-level data on a quarterly basis, analyze trends, and develop cross-agency strategies to address concerns and better target services for children with Medicaid insurance.

DC Health is an integral member of the Department of Health Care Finance’s Perinatal Quality Improvement (QI) Collaborative which works with managed care organizations (MCOs) and other stakeholders, including health providers, social service providers and government agencies, to reduce the rate of adverse perinatal events that occur with pregnancies by women insured by DC Medicaid. The Collaborative works with MCOs to conduct ongoing quality improvement initiatives based on performance indicators. DC Health has begun planning with the Perinatal Collaborative to develop a preterm birth registry.   

Other examples of collaborations with DHCF include:

• Help Me Grow, the comprehensive and integrated system designed to address the need for early identification of children at risk for developmental and/or behavioral problems, is funded primarily by DHCF through an inter-agency MOU.
• School Health Services Inter-Agency Meetings which are held monthly to focus on systems-level strategic planning to support children being healthy and ready to learn. These meetings help to improve health services coordination, and they support the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child approach to learning and health. The participating agencies include DC Health and DHCF among others (Department of Behavioral Health (DBH), Office State Superintendent for Education (OSSE), DCPS, Deputy Mayor for Education (DME), Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services (DMHHS), and Public Charter School Board (PCSB)).
• The School Health Requirements Inter-Agency Coordinating Committee (SHRIC) brings together representatives of DHCF, DCPS, OSSE, public charter schools, and DC Health quarterly to work on aligning and improving compliance with school health requirements. DC Health, DHCF and DCPS have formal data sharing agreements which allow the SHRIC to better monitor and improve the use of preventive health services by children insured by Medicaid.
• DC Health collaborates with DHCF to improve utilization of comprehensive child preventive health services (Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic and Treatment), including vaccinations and oral health services. DC Health’s School Based Oral Health Program (with oversight from staff funded through Title V) contracts with mobile dental providers to provide preventive dental services and care coordination for students in DC licensed child development centers, public and public charter schools. The Oral Health Program launched an MCO Notification function that activates the MCOs’ care coordination services when the SBOHP vendors identify a child with follow-up dental needs.

Title V also partners with non-governmental entities through its MCH Advisory Committee and through innovative initiatives.  DC Title V staff will oversee a perinatal connectivity project through Mahmee to address care coordination gaps among providers and social service organizations, as well as provide social support, complementary care, and patient navigation services for expecting mothers.  DC Title V also supports the DC Perinatal Quality Collaborative (PQC) through DC Health and the DC Hospital Association, which utilizes The Alliance for Innovation on Maternal Health’s (AIM) national data-driven maternal safety and quality improvement  strategies, to reduce preventable maternal mortality, severe maternal morbidity, and preterm birth.  In collaboration with DBH and Children’s National Health System in FY22, the Title V program will also oversee a pediatric mental health access initiative to improve care integration and expand access to pediatric mental health services in the District.  Additionally, the Title V program will continue to collaborate with the GW Center of Excellence in Maternal and Child Health Education, Science, Practice and Policy, which launched in 2020, to develop a pipeline of MCH professionals in the District.