Improving Child Health through State-Based Partnerships: A Profile of Three Programs

Child health improvement partnerships, which enable providers, payers, and clinicians to collaborate on quality improvement initiatives, have proven to be an effective means of increasing children’s access to high-quality, evidence-based care.

In more than 15 states, these partnerships have helped public and private sector leaders create a shared vision for addressing pressing children’s health needs—including access to mental health services and consistent delivery of preventive health care—and achieve them by changing health policy and equipping clinicians with the knowledge, tools, and financial support to redesign their practices.

Profiles of improvement partnerships in Utah, Vermont, and Washington, D.C., illustrate how such collaborations create opportunities for collaborative learning, provide education on quality improvement and measurement techniques, and engage policymakers and payers in efforts that may be increasingly important as more children gain health care coverage through provisions in the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act and Affordable Care Act.