North Carolina Medical Groups Receive Grants To Expand Health Care Access for Children

The Wake County Medical Society and Wake Health Services will each receive grants from the John Rex Endowment to improve the quality and access of children's health care in North Carolina's Wake County, the Raleigh News & Observer reports. The Medical Society, which coordinates free care for low-income adults, will receive $1.6 million to expand its services to include children. Wake Health Services, which operates five free health clinics, will receive $450,000 over three years. Both groups will help enroll children in Medicaid or N.C. Health Choice, the state's CHIP program, and ensure children receive preventive care. The grants also will be used to coordinate doctor and clinic visits, help parents enroll their children in CHIP or Medicaid and bolster outreach efforts. About 9,000 children in the county are currently eligible but not enrolled for one of the two insurance programs. To determine eligibility, Wake Health Services will begin reviewing the medical records of the 4,300 children who have received treatment at its clinics. For its part, the endowment will track Medicaid and CHIP enrollments to determine how many children signed up through the two medical groups. Kevin Cain, the endowment's president and executive director, said, "Whenever we make a grant, we want to know what we are going to be able to look at that will tell us if we are making a difference." The $75 million endowment was created in 2000 as part of the merger of UNC HealthCare and Rex Healthcare (Fisher, Raleigh News & Observer, 2/12).