Arkansans to explore children's healthcare coverage

Coverage for kids top-cited concern

by Carolyne Park

February 8, 2008 | Arkansas Democrat Gazette | Arkansas

Originally published 2/1/2008.

Ensuring children have access to high-quality, affordable health insurance coverage is the top concern of Arkansans when it comes to children’s health care, according to results of a new statewide survey.

Issues such as childhood obesity, teenage pregnancy and drug and alcohol use among children were also identified as major concerns. Results of the telephone survey of 2, 005 Arkansas residents were released Thursday by the Natural Wonders Partnership Council. The council, composed of 29 representatives of 16 public and private entities, convened last summer to identify and address health needs of Arkansas ’ children.

The survey is the second step in the council’s 12-month plan to assess children’s health care statewide, said Dr. Jonathan Bates, president and chief executive officer of Arkansas Children’s Hospital.

The council will release its final report this summer with a series of recommendations on ways to improve health care of Arkansas children.

Amy Rossi, council coordinator and associate director for the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement, said the report will be shared with a wide range of individuals, including state legislators, doctors, hospital and nonprofit officials, and the general public.

Some recommendations will offer quick solutions, while others will require long-term action. The goal is to have information readily available for families and policymakers alike, Rossi said.

“The whole idea is to have it out there as something that everybody in the public and private sectors can really embrace and use to make something happen,” Rossi said.

The survey, which was conducted between Oct. 2, 2007, and Nov 5, 2007, is a follow-up to a council report released in July that looked at children’s health needs based on existing data. In contrast, the survey’s goal was to gauge people’s perceptions and give policymakers, community leaders and health-care providers a snapshot of major concerns and attitudes toward children’s health care in Arkansas.

The next step will be a series of “study circles” later this month in five cities: Hamburg, Jacksonville, Mena, Paragould and Springdale. Rossi said one city was selected from each of the state’s five health regions as identified by the state Department of Health.

“We all know that sometimes department heads and others make decisions for our children and for others,” first lady Ginger Beebe said in a teleconference Thursday. “This is one way that Arkansans can share what their needs and their concerns are.” Each city will host discussion groups of 10-12 people meeting for four two-hour sessions each to discuss children’s health-care issues, said Rhonda Sanders, health policy director of Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families.

More than three-quarters, or 77 percent of survey respondents, said childhood obesity is a serious to moderate problem in Arkansas. A Body Mass Index Annual Report by the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement found that 20. 6 percent of schoolage children were overweight in 2006.

Sixty-six percent of respondents felt that the amount of smoking by children was a serious to moderate problem, and 67 percent felt that alcohol and drug use among children in their community was a serious problem.

Teen pregnancy was considered a serious problem by 64 percent of respondents.

The Natural Wonders council started as an initiative of the Arkansas Children’s Hospital board of directors. Its first tangible result is the Pediatric Injury Prevention Center at Arkansas Children’s Hospital.

Started late last year, the center is headed by Dr. Mary Aitken, associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. The center has received $ 650, 000 in grants to develop and provide educational programs to prevent childhood accidents.

Bates said people involved in the initiative hope the council’s work will help pave the way for additional improvements in children’s health care.

“We think this will result in a plan and an agenda that everybody can embrace,” Bates said.

http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/215415/