PROPOSED QUALITY OF CARE PROGRAM FOR OVERWEIGHT CHILDREN FAMISly FIT

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PROPOSED QUALITY OF CARE PROGRAM FOROVERWEIGHT
CHILDREN(FAMIS-ly FIT!)

• Presentation to
• Quality, Transparency Prevention Workgroup
• Governors Health Care Reform Commission

November 14, 2006 Richmond, Virginia
Patrick W. Finnerty Department of Medical
Assistance Services
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The Cost of Overweight Children to Virginia

• The Virginia Department of Health (VDH) estimates
  that 39.2 of children in Virginia are overweight
  or at risk of becoming overweight.
• This generation of children is on track to
  experience
• Shorter life expectancies,
• Higher rates of disabilities (resulting in lack
  of participation in the workforce), and
• Increasingly complex and expensive medical costs.
• The former U.S. Surgeon General announced that
  the dramatic increase in the number of overweight
  children in the past decade (50) is extreme
  enough to threaten national security.

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Proposed Program FAMIS-ly Fit!

• Budget decision package requests 1.2 million
  (total funds) in FY 2008
• FAMIS-ly Fit a pilot project to reduce the
  incidence of overweight children in Southwest
  Virginia
• To improve health status and outcomes for
  children in Virginia ages 5-21 who receive
  Medicaid/FAMIS by
• improving eating habits,
• increasing physical activity, and
• addressing the socio-emotional challenges of
  being overweight through a targeted coordination
  of ongoing support, medical supervision,
  nutritional education, psychological services,
  physical education, and exciting motivational
  rewards.

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Target Population

• Medicaid/FAMIS Beneficiaries (Fee-For-Service)
• Ages 5-21 (collaboratively with guardians)
• Southwest Virginia Residents
• Scott, Washington, Russell, Wise and Lee counties
  and the cities of Norton and Bristol
  (Preliminary)
• Children who are overweight and at risk of
  becoming overweight (85th body mass index
  percentile and above)

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Program Components

• Care coordination and on-going support
• Medical supervision
• Nutritional education
• Psychological services
• Physical education
• Exciting motivational rewards

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Anticipated Results

• Improved Health Status
• increase in nutritional knowledge
• increase in understanding the importance of
  physical activity
• increase in activity level
• improvement in food choices (increase in fruits
  and vegetables and decrease in processed/fried
  foods)
• increase in self-esteem
• Improved Health Outcomes
• decrease in the number of sick days missed from
  school
• decrease in the number of medical visits for
  illnesses
• reduction in risk factors for chronic illness

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The Time is Right for FAMIS-ly Fit!

• FAMIS-ly Fit! is in line with Medicaid
  Revitalization Committee recommendations to
  expand disease management opportunities.
• FAMIS-ly Fit! enables Virginia to be a
  frontrunner in addressing the childhood
  overweight epidemic.
• The FAMIS-ly Fit! program design
• Utilizes Existing State Plan Services
• Leverages community resources (e.g., Partnership
  with the Virginia Cooperative Extension/Virginia
  Tech)
• FAMIS-ly Fit! offers services and hope to
  children in an often overlooked and underserved
  geographic area.