School-based Services

CHHCS - THE CENTER FOR HEALTH AND HEALTH CARE IN SCHOOLS
www.healthinschools.org/home.asp
CHHS is a nonpartisan policy and program resource center located at The George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services. It was established to explore ways to strengthen the well being of children and youth through effective health programs and health care services in schools.

• Health programs www.healthinschools.org/schoolbased.asp range from those that help students adopt healthy habits to those that foster a physically and emotionally healthy school environment. During school year 1999 - 2000, the health centers were found in more than 1350 schools across the United States. Site provides: statistics, program development guidance, bibliography, and links to the National Assembly on School-Based Health Care as well as state associations for school-based health care.
  
  
• Health services www.healthinschools.org/schoolprograms.asp include screenings and referrals to community resources as well as services to support students with special needs. It also includes primary and preventive physical and mental health care. Site topics address: environmental issues, nutrition needs, health education, physical activity, physical, mental and dental health services, as well as efforts to reduce violence or prevent drug use. Resources include papers describing new approaches to health care in schools as well as links to the CDC Division on Adolescent and School Health, the National School Nurses Association and other leaders in the field.

NASN- NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF SCHOOL NURSES
www.nasn.org/
NASN's core purpose is to advance the delivery of professional school health services to promote optimal learning in students." Site contains: An informational report (inclusive of NASN's position and rationale, as pertinent) about a school nurse or health issue impacting children and/or schools; legislative alerts; position statements; links to state affiliates and more!

Definition of School Nursing
"School nursing is a specialized practice of professional nursing that advances the well being, academic success, and life-long achievement of students. To that end, school nurses facilitate positive student responses to normal development; promote health and safety; intervene with actual and potential health problems; provide case management services; and actively collaborate with others to build student and family capacity for adaptation, self management, self advocacy, and learning."

NASBHC - NATIONAL ASSEMBLY SCHOOL-BASED HEALTH CARE
MAINE SBHCS Partner With Commercial Insurers In Pilot Project
www.nasbhc.org
The Maine School-Based Health Care Assembly and the Maine Children’s Alliance have entered into an agreement with all of the private health insurance plans that offer health maintenance programs [HMOs] in Maine to reimburse eligible SBHCs for services without prior primary care provider approval. The Maine Children's Alliance, a member of the National Association of Child Advocates, is acting as convener for the series of meetings to plan the implementation of this three year pilot study to be launched in January, 2003

NASBHC - NATIONAL ASSEMBLY SCHOOL-BASED HEALTH CARE
TennCare and School Health
www.nasbhc.org/APP/TENNCARE.htm
Report articulates the potential of coordinated school health and mental health programs to not only ameliorate the deficiencies in TennCare identified in the U.S. District Court order, but also to realize the promise of the EPSDT program to contribute to " a more efficient and effective health care system with a proactive, comprehensive, and long-term focus." If the promise of the EPSDT program is met, it will also mean improved academic and social achievement for Tennessee students whose current health, mental health, and developmental conditions create barriers to learning. The joint policy statement published on the NASBHC web site resulted from a collaborative effort of the Tennessee Nurses Association, the Tennessee School Health Coalition, the Tennessee Association of School Nurses, the Tennessee Primary Care Association, the Rural Health Association of Tennessee, the Early Child Health Outreach Project of the Tennessee Health Care Campaign, Family Voices, and Vanderbilt University School of Nursing to support the integration of comprehensive school health services within the TennCare system of care.

HELP FOR SCHOOLS – Medicaid As a Payor
Special Education and Medicaid Knowledge Base
www.helpforschools.com/medicaid/index.shtml
Initiated in conjunction with Region VII Comprehensive Center, University of Oklahoma, and Northrop Grumman Information Technology, this site is the result of an "Education Week" article about schools under-utilizing Medicaid funding for their special education students. The Knowledge Base's aim is to assist school district staff with the complexities of billing Medicaid for health and related services delineated under a child's IEP.

HELP FOR SCHOOLS - IEP Related Services
New Medicaid-in-Schools resource for IEP related services
www.helpforschools.com/medicaid/3.0/related_services.shtml
The list of related services is not exhaustive and may include other developmental, corrective, or supportive services (such as nutritional services or service coordination), if they are required to assist a student with a disability to benefit from special education.

NATIONAL LONGITUDINAL STUDY OF ADOLESCENT HEALTH
The Untapped Power of Schools to Improve the Health of Teens
www.healthinschools.org/ejournal/2002/may02_1.htm
Summary report that was released April 2002 cites data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health to show that "school connectedness"—a student’s feeling of being part of and cared for at school—is a key to reducing teenagers’ risk for violence, substance abuse, suicide, and pregnancy. The findings are available in two articles. "Improving the odds: The untapped power of schools to improve the health of teens," by Blum, McNeely, and Rinehart, is available from the Center for Adolescent Health at the University of Minnesota, e-mail aph@umn.edu. "Promoting Student Connectedness to School: Evidence from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health," by the same authors, is published in the Journal of School Health, Vol. 72(4).