Kids Get Care (KGC) is a program to ensure that children, regardless of insurance status, receive early integrated preventive physical, oral and developmental health services through attachment to a health care home.

Services first. Kids Get Care reverses the typical sequence for low-income children getting health care by first attaching the child and family to a medical home and health services, and then helping establish eligibility for public coverage. To assure access to services, children need both health care coverage and a coordinated delivery system that will make sure they get preventive services.


Prevention improves health and can save money. Kids Get Care increases the percentage of young children up-to-date with well child visits at participating sites. Research shows that two-year-olds with up-to-date well child visits are 48% less likely to have avoidable hospitalizations (Hakim, Pediatrics, July 2001).


Seize the moment. Kids Get Care case managers have led participating sites through quality improvement processes to encourage the delivery of integrated physical, developmental and oral health services. One Dental Director at a partner clinic remarked, "Before our involvement in Kids Get Care I probably would not have thought about sending a family to a medical clinic. The gift of this program, is that it creates opportunities for doctors and dentists to talk to each other about how poor oral health impacts a child's overall wellness and then together to generate positive and preventive solutions."


Web and funnel. Kids Get Care casts a web of community connections around participating clinic sites and funnels identified children to services. Community staff in the area are trained about appropriate developmental milestones and oral health promotion so they can support parents in securing services for their children. If staff find that the family is in need of services they can refer them to a KGC case manager to establish health care home.