00:00:13:08 - 00:00:42:28 Unknown Welcome to the Voices in School Health Series. This series is designed to help Virginia schools and community partners learn from successful, school based health programs and practices. I'm Ericca Facetti, the executive director and co-founder of the school based Health Alliance of Virginia. Today, I will discuss what a traditional school based health center is. A school based health center is an evidence based model of health care delivery, where a center is established and operated within a school or on its campus. 00:00:43:01 - 00:01:15:06 Unknown School based health centers, or SBHC's prioritize serving students in the school or district where they're located, but may also extend services to other populations, including students, families, school personnel, and community members. School based health centers are already widespread, which provides a solid model. The fixed location model has been established across most of the country. There are approximately 3900 school based health centers across 48 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. 00:01:15:07 - 00:01:49:15 Unknown This reach indicates that school based care is a familiar structure to educators, parents, and funders. Therefore, a district proposing a school based health clinic is expanding upon an accepted approach rather than creating a new one. Please note that each school based health center is different and may provide different services and employ different staff members. A school based health center provides comprehensive primary care services to students, and may offer additional services or collaborate with other providers based on assessed community needs. 00:01:49:18 - 00:02:17:16 Unknown A school based health center focuses on increasing access to high quality health care services to improve health and educational outcomes and reduce disparities. School based health centers align health care and education systems to support a student success, both inside and outside of the school. The care provided by a school based health center complements and support, but it does not replace or duplicate any existing health services offered by the school. 00:02:17:17 - 00:02:48:22 Unknown For example, the school nurse's office, school based health centers in Virginia should include bidirectional communication between providers. For example, how do we connect chronic disease issues and oral health, and also bidirectional communication with the school staff, the school nurses and the community? It's very important to demonstrate the value of these programs. Services provided at a school based health center may include, but are not limited to, behavioral health, vision, and oral health services. 00:02:48:22 - 00:03:18:03 Unknown Care provided by a school based health center is designed to be responsive to the community and to meet the cultural and linguistic needs of the population served. The service categories may include well child and preventive care things like physicals, screenings and checkups to identify problems early and keep school and sports forms up to date, immunizations, routine childhood and adolescent vaccines administered on schedule, eliminating the need for a separate clinic visit. 00:03:18:07 - 00:03:44:01 Unknown Acute care treatment for common illnesses, and minor injuries that occur during the school day. Chronic disease management ongoing support for conditions such as asthma and diabetes, which helps students remain in class. Mental health, this could be screening, counseling, and connections to further care, while also integrating that mental health with the physical health and oral health care, things like dental screenings and treatments. 00:03:44:08 - 00:04:12:06 Unknown The staff at a school based health center may include doctors, nurses and PAs LPNs, dental hygienists, dentists, behavioral health, mental health professionals and coordinators to help connect the referrals between school based health center staff, specialists and the school, in particular the school nurses. The responsibilities for the school patients, parents or guardians, and health care providers should be outlined in advance for the following tasks. 00:04:12:12 - 00:04:37:25 Unknown Appointment referrals - what do these referrals look like? How does the communication workflow go? Obtaining and documenting consent - we know that obtaining consent can be one of the most difficult things that any school based health center needs to do. So there needs to be, again, a workflow that outlines what this looks like and how they're documenting the consent. Registration - including health insurance information if it's available. 00:04:37:28 - 00:04:58:24 Unknown Conducting the appointment - Having a workflow with decision points is very important and sharing this workflow between the school based health center staff, the school nurse, and any other pertinent staff at the school is really essential. Also, the follow up after the appointment - In the case, the student needs additional visits or an additional referral. What does that look like? 00:04:58:25 - 00:05:21:26 Unknown And again, making sure there's not only decision points, but that the school also understands what this process looks like. School based health centers are created through collaborative partnerships between the community, the school and an entity that operates and administers the school based health center, often referred to as the operator. Students and families are really central to this partnership. 00:05:22:02 - 00:05:51:11 Unknown The school based health center operator could be a federally qualified health center, a community health center, or a look alike, a hospital, a public health department, a nonprofit health or human services agency, or any other qualified entity capable of operating health care services. The school based health center operator and partnering school district enter into a legally binding agreement regarding the administration and operation of the school based health center. 00:05:51:13 - 00:06:17:21 Unknown A school based health center provides onsite services and typically operates at a minimum during the academic day when school is in session. Functions with regular frequency to ensure continuous and appropriate care. Coordinates care, including a systematic follow up and referral process for patients. They establish a method for the exchange of health information between the school based health center and the patient's primary care provider. 00:06:17:21 - 00:06:54:03 Unknown If it's not the school based health center itself, and if applicable, they also coordinate these referrals and information with other providers. Communication is essential, especially with appropriate school personnel, to ensure integrated care and creating a system to connect patients to care outside of school based health center operating hours or in the summer if it is not available. A school based health center operates in accordance with federal, state, and local laws and regulations, including those related to licensure and certification, information sharing, and consent for treatment. 00:06:54:07 - 00:07:22:11 Unknown Many school based health centers bill Medicaid and private insurance, and they also operate from grant funding. Onsite care positively affects both health and school performance by eliminating barriers that might prevent children from receiving medical attention and attending class. When students can receive care at school, routine checkups or sick visits can happen without the need to leave. This approach helps keep children healthy and present in the classroom. 00:07:22:17 - 00:07:31:04 Unknown Thank you for watching. I encourage you to explore other sessions in the voices for schoolhouse series to support school based health efforts in Virginia.