First published on July 13, 2015 in observance of the COPH’s 30^th anniversary celebration.

Jodi Ray is a bundle of energy when she talks about the project that has become her life’s work, Florida Covering Kids and Families, which is a part of the Lawton and Rhea Chiles Center for Healthy Mothers and Babies.

The founding program director was Mary Figg, a state representative for Hillsborough County.  After a year or two of preliminary maneuvers, the initiative began formally in 1999.  Figg had enlisted Ray, who has a master’s degree in mass communications, the year before to be program coordinator and handle all things media, including assisting her with crafting the successful request for that all-important initial grant.

“My job was to manage a multimedia campaign.  I’ve done a lot of mass communications on this job,” she said.  “In fact, I’d say I do more of that than anything else.”

The project was funded its first seven years by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to do outreach enrollment of children eligible for the Children’s Health Insurance Program and Medicaid.  During that time, a staff of two more than doubled to five by 2006, then, when that funding ended, was cut all too literally in half, reduced to a project director, a coordinator and a half-time assistant: essentially, a staff of 2-1/2.  Fortunately, they had a dedicated network behind them.

Jodi Ray

“We have a state coalition,” Ray said, “a large collaboration of partners from around the state and local coalitions in almost every community in the state.  We came together and said, ‘Our mission is to get uninsured into coverage.’”

The coalition was initially mandated by the RWJF grant, Ray said.  It remains active today and includes some of its original members.  No question, it answered a critical need in 2006, when half the staff was asked to keep up with an exponential work-load increase created three years earlier.

Crying on the phone

“In 2003,” she explained, “the state ended all outreach efforts for CHIP.  So they literally boxed everything up and sent it to me.  They gave me their contact lists and all of their partnerships and said, ‘Could you please take this on?’  Now granted, there were no financial resources with that at the time.”

“The state also closed enrollment for CHIP in Florida for 18 months.  As a result of that, we lost over 300,000 kids in the Florida KidCare program.  In one month alone, we lost 40,000 kids.

“There was no statewide outreach initiative except us,” she said, “me and my other 1-1/2 people.  The number of calls I got was unbelievable.  People were calling and crying.  It was terrible.”

That situation started Ray on an 18-month crusade, talking to newspaper editorial boards, legislators, community leaders, almost anyone who would listen.

Committed to moving forward, she and the coalition began implementing a plan that was as innovative as it was aggressive:  Sign up as many kids as possible to a waiting list.  When the list reached 120,000, the New York Times took notice and gave the state a boatload of blistering press.  Not long after, the governor issued an executive order to enroll all the kids on the list, and open enrollment returned permanently four months later.

In 2007, a new governor, Charlie Crist, declared the uninsured rate among children appalling.  He brought the state agencies together, Ray said, and told them to figure out how to make it better, and fast.

“One of the things they did was decide to give us some resources,” Ray said.

A state contract and marketing materials soon followed, along with help from state agency staffs on routine but time-consuming matters like mailing.  Growth was back, and with it, ramped-up after-school activities and more engagement with local businesses.

The results since have ranged from impressive to remarkable.  Since the first open enrollment period began on Oct. 1, 2013, the project has gained national media coverage for enrolling about 2.5 million previously uninsured Floridians, twice the expectation.

“We expanded to focus on all the newly eligible uninsured to help them get into whatever coverage options are available,” Ray said, “whether under the Affordable Care Act in the marketplace or Medicaid or CHIP.  One way or another, we were going to help people who didn’t have coverage get health insurance so they could get access to health care services.

“Health care services are important, and having preventive care, all those things.  We talk about all those things being necessary, but you’re not getting in the door unless you have health insurance.  So that’s what we focus on: the first step, getting people in the door.”

That may be the focus, but there’s plenty more to do.

“We also do one-on-one application,” she said.  “We have consumers that actually sit down with us and do enrollment.  We do everything that involves connecting people to health coverage.

“We even do some health literacy.  How do you use health insurance?  How do you make an appointment to see a doctor?  For many of the uninsured, these are not obvious.”

“We work with all the agencies on both the state and federal levels that are involved in implementing health coverage, and we get out there and shake the bushes.”

Media and more

As much effort as is spent on finding the uninsured, many do find FCKF first, Ray said.

“We get cold calls for everything,” she said.  “I used to wonder sometimes how people find us, but I don’t wonder that anymore.  All you have to do is help somebody.  Then that person gives your number to somebody else.  We get a lot of calls by word of mouth.  We helped someone at some point, and even years later, we get a call from that person’s family member or friend who needs help.”

“The things that consumers come in here and tell you are unbelievable, sometimes heartbreaking.  That’s the other thing that’s really tough,” she said.  “I’ve gotten calls that have made me literally get up and walk around the building a few times because the stories are terrible: the family living in a car; the kid who’s got some kind of horrible heart condition; the mother who had CHIP coverage, but something went wrong with her renewal, it got dropped, it’s Christmastime and she has no money because the asthma medication she had to pick up for her son cost $400.”

While grants provide the funding, the University of South Florida and College of Public Health make it work, Ray said.

“Our work has been very well supported by both the College of Public Health and the University.  I say this out loud every day:  I don’t think anybody doing this work could be in a better place.  I don’t think there’s any way Dr. Petersen could support our work any more than she does.  We get so much support from one end of this university to the other, and we worked with everybody through open enrollment.”

Student Health Services, the libraries, the Morsani College of Medicine and the Marshall Center were regular haunts, as were the St. Petersburg and Sarasota-Manatee campuses.

From the beginning, Ray, who became director upon Figg’s retirement in 2003, has been the media go-to person from the beginning, and that responsibility has grown as exponentially as the project itself.

“We do four press conferences a year.  I spend a ridiculous amount of time talking to reporters.  Just in the first open enrollment period alone, I probably did 80 or 90 interviews with reporters from one end of the country to the other.”

The result was major articles in The New Yorker, the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times, to name a few, as well as pieces widely disseminated by the Associated Press and Reuters, as well as personal visits from two national health secretaries.

Ray on Capitol Hill in a nationally televised discussion.

“During the first open enrollment period, we had the second-largest grant in the country,” Ray said.  “That, in itself, drew attention, and [U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius] came here, herself, and awarded the grant.  She came to the college, and that’s how I found out we’d gotten the grant.”

It’s little wonder, then, that what began with two people 17 years ago keeps a dozen in the USF office busy with training, policy work, education, outreach, grant-writing, communications, etc.  It’s an office full of multi-taskers, Ray said.

“We all do all of it,” she said.

Given the complexities of health insurance laws and regulations, not to mention a new set of rules for navigators, just keeping up is a task unto itself.

“We do have to make it a point to stay informed.  We’re constantly on webinars and trainings, reading policies and reading new rules.  We have our hands in a lot of different elements of public health, just because we have to.”

The toughest part of the job, she said, is not being able to help everyone.

“We still have a gap of folks who are not going to qualify for coverage they can afford because the state has not expanded Medicaid coverage,” she said.  “I’d like to see us be able to enroll everyone who has no access to health coverage.  I’d like to see that in less than five years, quite frankly.  I would hate for that to be a five-year goal.”

Ray makes it obvious that what she and her colleagues do at Florida Covering Kids and Families is what keeps her pumped with energy.

“It’s all very exciting,” she said.  “We’re right there at the front end of this, and that, in and of itself, is exhilarating.  I feel good about what we’ve been able to accomplish, so it’s all been worth the time and effort – and the stress and the exhaustion – because it’s paid off.  We’re actually having an impact, and people see it.”

Every flight needs a navigator

The federal navigator initiative aimed at getting people into the new health insurance marketplace has been a major focus of their work the past two years, as well as a major hallmark of their success.

“The navigators are tied specifically to the federal marketplace.” Ray explained, “Some states are not participating in the federal marketplace, but Florida happens to be one of those states that is.”

The federal program provides outreach enrollment funds.  The first funding opportunities began in 2013, Ray said, and her office applied for USF to get an award that would cover the state.  She and her team did all the grant writing.

“We had already been doing this work on the ground across the state to enroll kids in CHIP and Medicaid,” Ray said, “and many of the partners around the state had come to a consensus that it made perfect sense for us to be the applicant for this grant and take the lead.  So, what we did was look at the model that was already working and find a way to expand on that.”

The result was a $4.2-million award in 2013 to cover 64 of the state’s 67 counties, the exceptions being Broward, Miami-Dade and Monroe, which submitted their own applications separately.

“The second year,” Ray said, “we went back to those partners again and asked them if they would like to join us for the 2014 application.  They said yes the second time around, so the second time around, we covered all 67 counties in Florida.”

The second award was worth $5.3-million.  Ray’s group had secured million-dollar grants for their Children’s Health Insurance Program enrollments, but those, which  had been their largest to date, are easily dwarfed by the Navigator grants.

Most of the funds are vested in the people who get the job done, Ray said.

“A lot of people.  I’m a big believer that priority number one should be the human resource.  The folks on the ground.  The folks who are out there doing the education, the communication, the one-on-one application assistants, the people who know the processes.  We know from our history of doing this and tons of research that these are the folks who keep people from getting lost along the way through the process.”

In one regard, Ray said, the Navigator’s work has only begun with the enrollment stage.

“They help people navigate the enrollment process and get to the point where they can be enrolled and covered, and they’re also key to helping people appropriately use health insurance,” she said.  “We want folks not just to get in, but we want them to keep their coverage and to use their coverage properly.

“When you’re connecting people to health care coverage for the first time, these are not innately understood concepts.  Insurance is actually a pretty complicated idea, and if you’ve never used it, you really can get overwhelmed.  If you have it and you’re not using it, then the tendency to understand its value can be diminished.  The Navigators and the Florida KidCare application assisters on the ground are essential for that piece of it.  It’s not just about filling out the forms.”

The numbers tell just how busy those people on the ground have been.

“The first year, the projected enrollment for the federal health insurance marketplaces in Florida was around 450,000, give or take,” Ray said.  “We ended up enrolling – with all partners across the state, not just the USF partners – almost a million.  We doubled the projections, basically.

“The second year, the last number I saw was about 1.6 million, but that didn’t include the last month, the limited special enrollment period for people who got hit with the tax penalties.”

As impressive as those figures are, their national rank may be more so, especially given California’s stand as by far the most populous state of the union.

“The first year, every month, we came in second in the country to California,” Ray said.  “This year, our enrollment here in Florida was higher than enrollment in any other state in the country.  It’s a pretty successful initiative in Florida.”

That seems understated, especially considering that it was the work of about 90 Navigators the first enrollment period and around 150 the second round.  Ray was quick to note, however, that Navigators weren’t the only people involved.

“There are more resources that go into managing this than just the enrollment folks,” she said.  “We have IT people involved, we have human resource people involved, we have grant administrators involved.  It’s an undertaking, for sure.  It’s all a team effort.”

A niche in the state’s public health

The stakes, along with the numbers, will be higher for the third round, since the funding will be for three years.  Ray is undaunted by the change and, in fact, favors it.  For one thing, it will provide greater continuity in enrollment services, she said.

“We won’t have the start-up delays that come with a grant ending,” she explained, “and then waiting for another grant to come in.”

Given the early success but also knowing the nature of the funding world, Ray is cautiously optimistic about future Navigator grants.

“We’re keeping our fingers crossed,” she said.  “I feel like we’ve done a good job.  I think our outcomes have been really high.  Our partners at the federal level seem very pleased with the work that we’re doing.

“Florida certainly has been a shining star all the way through this.  Not because I was optimistic, but because I believed we were doing the right thing and that we knew what we were doing, I’m not surprised.  Because we didn’t go into this making up a plan of action.  We went into it with a sense of how it can be done, what the best practices were.  We had learned our lessons along the way.  We didn’t have to reinvent the wheel to do this.  All our collaborative partners made a big difference, too.

“I feel pretty good going into years three through five.  It’s going to be harder going into these years, because we’ve enrolled so many of the low-hanging fruit, so we really have to hone in on who we’re missing and whatever we need to do to make sure we’re not leaving people behind.

“This is our niche for the state of Florida in public health.  Whether it’s obesity or diabetes or getting cancer screenings, it’s very difficult for people to do anything about those things we talk about in public health if they don’t have health insurance.  So, I think we’re doing something valuable in contributing that first step to addressing some of these important public health issues that are so important.”

Story by David Brothers, College of Public Health.  Graphics courtesy of Florida Covering Kids and Families, CSPAN and Jodi Ray.

The post Kids and Families, navigator grants hallmarks of college’s state and national presence appeared first on College of Public Health News.

The USF College of Public Health (COPH) recently brought together roughly 40 health care marketplace Navigators—specially trained people who help those searching for health insurance “navigate” the enrollment process—and representatives of health education partners from around the state to meet, network and, most importantly, collaborate.

The meeting took place in Lutz, Fla., on Sept. 12-13.

A meeting of the minds

Dr. Ellen Daley, a COPH professor and principal investigator of the Florida Covering Kids & Families (FL-CKF) grant, which works extensively with Navigators around the state, said bringing together Navigators and partners at this point, when FL-CKF leadership has recently changed, was crucial.

Florida Covering Kids & Families works collaboratively with Florida agencies and stakeholders to advocate and conduct outreach to ensure all Floridians have access to affordable health care coverage.

“It was a good time to get together with partners and see what was working and what wasn’t, what needed addressing, what needed revising,” Daley said in her opening remarks to the group.

Daley then gave the group an overview of some recent FL-CKF highlights, noting that over the last 10 years, some 19,000 consumers have been helped, per year, with insurance enrollment and that Florida, California and Texas have the highest rates of enrollment in the country.

After introductions and an ice-breaker toss-the-beach-ball exercise, state partners were invited to the podium to list their “Points of Pride.”

Outreach outlined

Many outlined how they provide outreach to the large and often diverse areas they serve, sparking ideas for other groups.

For example, Big Bend Area Health Education Center (AHEC), Inc., a nonprofit based in Tallahassee that aims to improve community health, focusing on underserved, rural and minority populations in its area, described how they talk to people about insurance while they are getting their blood sugar checked or blood pressure taken. They also place ads in grocery carts and on bus stops and leave information at nail salons and public libraries, which many people without a computer or WiFi will stop into to check the internet or email.

Other groups talked of how they reach clients by partnering with health care systems and local health departments, going to food banks, construction sites and homeless shelters, talking about insurance enrollment during tobacco cessation programs and utilizing texting programs.

They also hire Navigators from within the community, a move that often helps to mitigate cultural differences and language barriers.

“Insurance for free? Why is no one talking about this?!”

Time and time again, the Navigators shared stories of the impact health insurance had on their clients’ lives—including the elderly woman who had recently immigrated and didn’t have a social security card and wasn’t eligible for Medicare. Or the international student at Florida State who had no idea how health insurance in this country worked. “We helped him find a plan that was no cost to him,” said Allison Wiman, executive director of Big Bend AHEC. “The student said, ‘Insurance for free? Why is no one talking about this?!’”

A passion for what they do

A Navigator’s work can be complex and sometimes frustrating—but always rewarding, the meeting’s participants said.

“I absolutely love what I do,” said Rory Noonan, who works with FL-CKF’s USF Navigator team. “I actually got my own health insurance plan through the Navigator program when I was in graduate school and turned 26, and I can see directly how [our work] helps people. It feels good to tell people, ‘Congratulations, you now have health care.’”

“I remember many appointments in 2013 [when open enrollment in the health care marketplace began] when consumers would leave our offices walking much taller, as this was the first time they were able to obtain health coverage,” added Tammy Watson, military outreach coordinator with FL-CKF. “Being a small part of this is both humbling and rewarding.”

Health insurance open enrollment using the Health Insurance Marketplace begins Nov. 1 and closes Jan. 15. All Marketplace plans cover preventive health services as well as things such as prescription drugs and hospitalizations. They also provide coverage for pre-existing conditions.

Story by Donna Campisano, USF College of Public Health

The post COPH hosts networking meeting of Navigators, state partners appeared first on College of Public Health News.

In 2023, the Florida Covering Kids & Families (FL-CKF) Navigator Program, housed within the USF College of Public Health (COPH), will turn 10 years old.

This year the program employs some 200 Navigators, up from a low of 60 when funding was cut during the Trump Administration. Navigators not only help consumers—many of them in vulnerable, under-served populations—“navigate” health insurance enrollment using the Health Care Marketplace, but, according to FL-CKF Program Director Jodi Ray, they also help them navigate the entire health care system.

“Navigators are connecting enrollees to providers, helping them understand medical billing and giving them some health literacy,” Ray said. “Some people don’t know what to do once they get insurance. We tell them about things such as preventive care. Our job is so much bigger than enrollment work.”

And big jobs often come with big price tags.

This year FL-CKF was awarded $12.9 million by the U.S. Health and Human Service (HHS) Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, part of a record-breaking grant awarding FL-CKF roughly $36 million over three years. The funds will be used to hire more Navigators, as well as for advertising and outreach, Ray said.

“We’re doing digital campaigns, broadcast TV, radio ads and ads on streaming services,” Ray said. “But we’re also going to focus on rural areas where many of our vulnerable populations live and where mass communication ads may not be successful. This year, we’ll be putting people on the ground in those hard-to-reach places. Navigators will be visiting laundromats, barber shops, beauty salons, bodegas and other places in the community to try and reach people. We also have a partnership with Walgreens, and we’ll be setting up tables in some stores. We’ll be utilizing some new things this year that we haven’t in the past because we have the resources to do so.”

Ray notes that in 10 years, the Navigator Program has tripled in size. What would she like to see in the future? More integration with other public health services, she says.

“The Navigator Program can be replicated to so many other health and social services,” Ray commented. “For example, housing insecurity and health care disparities and food insecurity all go hand in hand. People may be living in places where there’s a food desert or transportation is a barrier. The Navigator Program can be a model for navigating these other systems and services as well.”

Open health care enrollment runs from Nov. 1, 2022, to Jan. 15, 2023. For more information, click here.

Story by Donna Campisano, USF College of Public Health

The post Florida Covering Kids & Families Navigator Program turns 10, receives $12.9 million appeared first on College of Public Health News.

Sophany Nuth’s 30-hour-a-week job baking doughnuts doesn’t come with health insurance.

His weekly take-home pay is about $318. With rent, food and other bills, the 35-year-old Seffner fathercouldn’t afford the $400 a month quotes he got from private health insurers to cover him, his wife and two young children.

He was so worried, Nuth considered moving his family to Canada or Australia, which have universal health care.

“It’s a big stress in the family,” he said.

But Nuth is staying in Florida after enrolling his family in a health care plan through the Affordable Care Act marketplace that he found with the help of navigators from the Family Healthcare Foundation. It will cost just $18 a month.

He is one of a record 2.7 million Floridians who have signed up for health insurance through the Affordable Care Act for 2022, a 600,000 increase from last year.

The federal program, which was signed into law by President Barack Obama in 2010, is more popular than ever nationwide, too. A record 14.5 million people signed up for this year, surpassing the previous high by almost 2 million. That’s despite Republican attempts to challenge it in court and abolish it during President Donald Trump’s term.

That’s due to President Joe Biden’s administration, which spent more on marketing and increased investment in the availability of subsidies through last year’s $1.9 trillionAmerican Rescue Plan, said Jodi Ray, the executive director of Florida Covering Kids & Families.It’s a navigator program based at the University of South Florida in Tampa that coordinates outreach efforts across the state.

The Department of Health and Human Services restored $80 million to fund outreach efforts cut by the previous administration with the goal of quadrupling the number of navigators, who help people pick and enroll in insurance plans. Also, more insurance companies offered plans in the federal marketplace this year and the cost of premiums remained flat or, in some cases, dropped slightly.

Read the full story from Tampa Bay Times here.

The post Florida sets new record for Affordable Care Act enrollment appeared first on College of Public Health News.

Navigators from the USF College of Public Health’s Florida Covering Kids & Families (FL-CKF) will be joined by those from the Family Healthcare Foundation on Nov. 10 at the USF Marshall Student Center to help consumers learn more about their coverage options through the federal health insurance marketplace. 

The free event will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Consumers can register for an appointment by calling toll-free (877) 813-9115 or visiting www.CoveringFlorida.org. Walk-ins are also welcome.

The 9th annual open enrollment season is coming on the heels of the most challenging year and a half that Floridians have faced in the health care arena. The COVID-19 pandemic’s health impacts, its ongoing job and wage losses and the related loss of employer-sponsored insurance make it tremendously important for consumers to be able to understand their options in successfully obtaining affordable health coverage for themselves and their families for 2022. 

Covering Florida navigators deliver free outreach and enrollment services to any Floridian that needs to enroll in health care coverage in the federal health insurance marketplace. Navigators are trained and certified to help consumers as they shop for their health coverage options through the marketplace, including completing eligibility and enrollment forms. Services are confidential and free to consumers in all of Florida’s 67 counties.

At the Nov. 10 event, FL-CKF navigators will be on hand to offer education about marketplace insurance, assist individuals and families with coverage choices and guide those interested in enrolling through the application process.

FL-CKF was awarded a nearly $12 million navigator grant for the 2021-2022 enrollment period. FL-CKF works with 9 consortium partners across the state to help those who want assistance understanding and enrolling in healthcare coverage available through the health insurance marketplace.

The last date to enroll for coverage that begins Jan. 1, 2022 (as well as the final day that 2022 enrollees can change policies before being “auto-reenrolled” in their previous health care coverage plan) is Dec.15, 2021.

Edited by Donna Campisano, USF College of Public Health

The post FL-CKF to host health insurance marketplace event Nov. 10 appeared first on College of Public Health News.

While the COVID-19 pandemic sweeps across the nation resulting in loss of employment for many, USF College of Public Health’s Jodi Ray wants the public to know that doesn’t mean they have to lose health care coverage too.

Ray, program director of the COPH’s Florida Covering Kids & Families, says she and her team of health insurance navigators experienced a jump in calls over the past few months from individuals who have been furloughed, laid off, or are self-employed.  

“From the day the person experiences the reason to lose coverage, they have 60 days to apply for a special enrollment period,” Ray said.

A Special Enrollment Period (SEP) is a time outside the yearly open enrollment period where you can sign up for health insurance if you’ve had certain life events, including loss of health coverage, moving, marriage, new baby, or adopting a child. Additionally, a person who was unable to apply during that period due to COVID-19 may be eligible for another SEP.

Enrollment in Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) may be done any time of the year, whether you qualify for a SEP or not, according to Ray.

Ray said healthcare.gov has also outlined more detailed COVID-19 SEP information, which includes guidance on what options are available for those who lost a job, are experiencing reduced working hours or are now unable to afford their premiums.

“To qualify in terms of insurance being unaffordable, they would look at the cost of the insurance based on household income,” Ray said. “We can also potentially get an SEP if something changed to make them eligible for tax credits, such as a change in household income.”

Ray stressed individuals should be cautious of groups selling short-term plans, which may not cover all COVID-19 services.

“Keep in mind that people are out there selling these short-term plans,” she said. “They are not under the same requirements to cover COVID testing and treatment. People think they are going to get a deal out of some junk plan. They are going to find they aren’t going to have the coverage they expect to have. People have to be careful about that and which is why it’s important to talk to a navigator.”

Ray said there are even Marketplace plans that offer telehealth for little to no co-payments.

“Some people don’t even realize this is an option; they can continue health care without putting their health at risk,” she said.

Despite a drastic decrease in program funding over the last few years, Ray and her team are currently conducting appointments virtually to help those in need across the state.

To speak with a navigator for assistance, visit www.coveringflorida.com or call toll free 877-813-9115.

“Our team will also help with Florida KidCare, which has open-enrollment year-round, and covers children until they turn 19,” she said. “It’s important to get the word out, I think some people they just don’t know where to go for help. We can also help with any other complicated situations with their Marketplace or KidCare coverage. We can also address application issues. We don’t want people out there struggling.”

Story by Anna Mayor, USF College of Public Health

The post USF health insurance navigators address COVID-19 enrollment surge appeared first on College of Public Health News.

USF College of Public Health’s Jodi Ray, program director of Florida Covering Kids and Families, earned the Consumer Engagement Health Advocate Award of the year by Families USA.

Families USA is a national nonprofit, nonpartisan consumer health advocacy organization and provides awards annually to those across the nation who exemplify their four core areas of health equity, health care value, coverage and consumer engagement.

Ray was invited to Washington, DC in January to be honored for the award and represent consumer assistance and enrollment provided by Navigators across the country.

“It is a huge honor for me to receive this award,” Ray said. “I am so grateful for this high recognition of work that I’ve done, but I am more than aware that I haven’t done it alone—countless individuals across the country deserve to be distinguished for what has been accomplished to help numerous individuals access health care.”

Heather Bates formerly of Families USA and now director at Transform Health, a health care consulting firm lead by women based in California, nominated Ray for the award.

“I nominated her because of the work that Florida has been able to accomplish under her watch around enrollment navigation and post-navigation support in Florida. It wasn’t about just getting the consumer through the door to enroll, it was about the follow-through and the follow-up,” Bates said. “She’s really a leading example nationwide, and that is why Florida did so well. She inspires people and motivates teams that are effective, and that’s important and it shows.”

Jodi Ray (left) with Heather Bates of Transform Health. (Photo by Anna Mayor)

Ray has managed health care enrollment programs at USF for more than 20 years, including the largest Navigator grant in the country to help eligible uninsured Floridians get health care coverage.

She’s also partnered with key organizations statewide to provide enrollment education and outreach to vulnerable populations across the state of Florida.

“My team as a whole has led this work in Florida and is used as a resource nationally for how to do this work,” she said. “It doesn’t matter what is going on politically, this work continues, and in our current political environment, this work has been more important than ever.”

The Consumer Engagement award presented to Ray during the national ceremony in Washington, DC. (Photo by Anna Mayor)

Despite cuts to funding and a drastically shorter open enrollment period—from three months to six weeks—she and her team enrolled 1.7 million people into coverage.

Ray said that any vision for health care models in the future should include consumer engagement at the core.

“Consumer assistance is the glue that bonds together coverage to care for millions of Americans,” she said.

Ray said earning this award was a recognition of how important consumer engagement is to any health care model’s effectiveness.

“It’s not singularly about me and my own accomplishments as an individual,” she said. “We have been able to engage a whole team of people across the state and have an impact—a real public health impact.”

Story by Anna Mayor, USF College of Public Health

The post Jodi Ray earns Health Advocate of the Year award from Families USA appeared first on College of Public Health News.

The USF College of Public Health’s Lawton and Rhea Chiles Center for Healthy Mothers and Babies strives to integrate and apply the best in evidence-based research, education, practice, and service to promote optimal health and well-being across the life-course.

Faculty, staff and students disseminated their findings through the Chiles Center Symposium held in April, featuring presentations, research posters, and a keynote guest lecture.

This year’s annual symposium was led by the Chiles Center’s director Dr. William Sappenfield and was attended by the COPH dean Dr. Donna Petersen and the former founding Chiles Center director Dr. Charlie Mahan.

This year’s faculty and student presentations highlighted the research done by Florida Covering Kids & Families (FL-CKF).

Project director Jodi Ray led the discussion and presentations included overviews from FL-CKF staff Xongenese Jacobs, Katie Roders-Turner, Sarah Brumley, and Ashley Richards.

They discussed the Florida network of navigators assisting Florida’s children, families, and military families with becoming insured and understanding insurance programs.

FL-CKF staff answer questions from the audience regarding their work (from left): Xongenese Jacobs, Sarah Brumley, Ashley Richards, and Katie Roders-Turner. (Photo courtesy of Erika Thompson)

Other presentations included:

• Cheryl Vamos, assistant professor in CFH: research on current and future efforts for integrating oral health care during the prenatal period
• Chinyere Reid, CFH doctoral student: survey research on the perinatal quality improvement capacity in Florida’s Hospitals
• Grace Liggett, CFH MPH student, and Stacey Griner, CFH doctoral student: qualitative research on behalf of Dr. Erika Thompson on perspectives of preventing sexual transmission of the Zika virus in Florida
• Alexis Barr-Wood, CFH doctoral student: secondary investigation of the influence of grandmothers on breastfeeding

Grace Liggett and Stacey Griner presenting on Zika research. (Photo courtesy of Erika Thompson)

The annual Charles S. Mahan, M.D. Award for Best Student MCH Paper was presented to Sabrina Luke.

This award recognizes the best paper authored by a College of Public Health student on maternal and child health by providing a $500 award.

Sabrina Luke earned the Charles S. Mahan, M.D. Award for Best Student MCH Paper. (Photo courtesy of Erika Thompson)

Following presentations and awards, all attending guests and speakers were invited to view research posters, network with potential colleagues, and meet the authors.

Guests enjoyed a complimentary luncheon. (Photo courtesy of Erika Thompson)

The symposium also featured a session where attendees could speak to faculty, staff and students of the Chiles Center regarding their latest work to promote the health and well-being of the community. (Photo courtesy of Erika Thompson)

Dr. Arthur R. James, an OB/GYN, pediatrician, and a professor at The Ohio State University delivered the keynote address, “Equity…A Dream Deferred,” discussing infant mortality rates among African-American and Caucasian babies.

African-American babies’ survival rates lag behind Caucasian babies, and racism may be a contributing factor, according to James.

He spoke on social determinants and its effects on the health and delivery of African-American babies, and how to improve infant mortality rates among African-American babies.

James continues to work towards closing the gap of infant mortality rates between African-American and Caucasian babies set by Healthy People 2020.

Dr. Arthur R. James of The Ohio State University College of Medicine delivered the keynote address at the 2017 Annual Chiles Lecture and Symposium. (Photo courtesy of Erika Thompson)

Story by Theresa Nguyen, USF College of Public Health

The post Chiles Center Symposium highlights recent work in community and family health appeared first on College of Public Health News.

#GETCOVERED! USF!

Getting health care coverage is about taking personal responsibility for one’s health and financial well-being.  It’s about being an independent adult and protecting oneself. It is important to remember these critical dates:

• December 15: Last day to enroll in or change plans for new coverage to start January 1
• January 1: 2016 coverage starts for those who enroll or change plans by December 15
• January 15: Last day to enroll in or change plans for new coverage to start February 1
• January 31: 2016 open enrollment ends. Enrollments or changes between January 16 and January 31 take effect March 1

To schedule an appointment for any of the events or an individual meeting with a Navigator, call 813-803-0628 or visit http://www.enrollamerica.org/connector/

If attending Nav-Lab or visiting a Navigator for an individual appointment, please bring the following information:

• Social Security Numbers or document numbers for legal immigrants (including Certificate of Naturalization and/or Certificate of Citizenship)
• Employer and income information for every member of your household who needs coverage (i.e.: pay stubs and/or W2 forms)
• Policy numbers for any current health insurance plans covering members of the household
• Information about job based coverage for all members of the household

The post Need health care coverage? Enrollment deadline for Jan. 1 coverage is Dec. 15 appeared first on College of Public Health News.

Millennials. Generation Y. Echo Boomers. There are many names to describe one of the most uninsured groups in the U.S.

Jodi Ray, the USF College of Public Health’s program director of Florida Covering Kids & Families, was personally invited by the White House and the Young Invincibles to attend the Youth Digital Engagement Summit in Washington D.C. in October.

A recent summit, co-hosted by the White House, Young Invincibles—a non-profit organization responsible for educating young adults about health care, and the Department of Health and Human Services, highlighted best practices for using digital and social media to engage young adults about health care coverage.

Jodi Ray at the Youth Digital Engagement Summit in Washington, D.C. The first part of the day was spent in the Indian Treaty Room of the White House.

Leaders from Google, Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat provided insight and tactics on each of their respective platforms to engage young adults, a group Ray says is difficult to reach.

“It starts with this idea of not understanding why it’s important that they [young adults] have health insurance,” Ray said.

The Youth Digital Engagement Summit focused on best practices for engaging young adults to enroll in health care coverage, including utilizing platforms of Google, Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat.

At the summit, Ray was presented with the benefits of social media engagement, as 85 percent of 18 to 34-year-olds utilize smartphones and 94 percent trust getting their information through social media.

“It was a really intensive day, but it was a full day of concentrated, important information and it was so helpful,” Ray said. “This was an opportunity to learn how some of these social media tools can be used in a way I think we haven’t been using them before, so for me it was a learning experience.”

The summit brought Ray and other attendees in contact with communications, marketing, and digital staff from regional HHS offices, state health care exchanges, navigator entities, and top leaders Google, Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat.

Florida Covering Kids & Families is a program of the USF College of Public Health’s Lawton and Rhea Chiles Center for Healthy Mothers and Babies under the Department of Community and Family Health.

Florida Covering Kids & Families works collaboratively with agencies across the state to conduct outreach for health care coverage enrollment. Navigators provide assistance to enroll individuals and families in the federal health insurance marketplace. The current $5.9 million 2016 Navigator grant Ray oversees is the largest Navigator grant in the country and in Florida.

Google also hosted a luncheon during the afternoon session of the summit.

As a result, Ray is now currently working with Google to establish a web-based training for the entire Florida Covering Kids & Families navigator team, informing them of tactics to maximize outreach efforts through Google resources.

Ray attended the afternoon luncheon hosted at the Google offices.

She also plans to coordinate trainings with Facebook.

“I’m excited to see if we can move the needle on ramping up our 18 to 34 [year-old] enrollments and some of our harder to reach populations,” she said. “We do have a pretty extensive digital marketing campaign we’re going to be doing this year, and we’re working with several partners to reach out during this open enrollment period to some harder to engage populations.”

The open enrollment period for 2016 coverage began November 1 and will end January 31. After that date, the uninsured will be fined $695 or 2.5 percent of annual income, whichever is higher, Ray said.

Ray said young adults are the slowest to enroll, but hopes that increased digital engagement will assist in reaching them.

“One of the things we need to do is reach some of these folks that aren’t always reached through traditional mass media,” Ray said. “If we want to get them to pay attention, we have to get them where they are. They are not sitting in front of desktops.”

To learn more about getting enrolled in coverage for 2016, visit the Florida Covering Kids & Families website to speak with a USF navigator.

USF students may also ask questions, get more information about Healthcare.gov plan options and enroll on the spot with navigators in person at these upcoming Nav-Lab events:

• Nov. 10 , Time TBA, USF Manatee/Sarasota Campus
• Nov. 17, 10 a.m. – 3 p.m., USF Tampa Student Health Services
• Dec. 1, 10 a.m. – 3 p.m., USF Tampa Marshall Student Center
• Jan. 11, Time TBA,  USF Manatee/Sarasota Campus
• Jan. 13, 10 a.m. – 3 p.m., USF Tampa Student Health Services
• Jan. 14, 11:30 a.m. – 2:20 pm , USF St. Petersburg
• Jan. 27, 10 a.m. – 3 p.m., USF Tampa Marshall Student Center

Story by Anna Mayor, USF College of Public Health. Photos courtesy of Jodi Ray.

The post Jodi Ray attends Youth Digital Engagement Summit in Washington, D.C. appeared first on College of Public Health News.