Title V Agency Placement and Project
- Florida State Department of Health's Children's Medical Services
- Summer 2022
- Enhancing Equitable Provider/Family-Caregiver-Patient Partnerships in a Patient Centered Medical Home or Integrated Behavioral Health Home for Children & Youth with Special Health Care Needs
Internship Focus
My Title V summer internship was focused on increasing access to patient-centered medical homes and primary care for children and youth with special health care needs (CYSHCN). By doing this, the goal was to improve overall patient/family/provider partnerships and enhance equitable healthcare outcomes for CYSHCN. For this project, I was partnered with the Florida State Department of Health's Children's Medical Services team. I overall really enjoyed my experience in the Title V internship program, specifically being partnered with this team. I had an amazing project mentor and was also partnered with a great co-intern who was completing her undergraduate public health degree.
"I felt that I left this internship not only with a greater MCAH knowledge base, specifically within CYSHCN, but also with providing tangible best practices for the Florida team for them to utilize moving forward."
Internship Deliverables
One of my project deliverables was to compile evidence-based strategies to educate providers on how to include caregivers as partners in their child’s care and remove barriers to equitable healthcare for CYSHCN. We additionally wanted to create an assessment tool to measure caregiver knowledge, comfort, and perception of self as a partner in their child’s care.
To start, we conducted a literature review to understand current research on patient-centered medical homes, and how Florida specifically was currently implementing the National Performance Measure 11 (increase access to patient-centered medical homes and primary care for CYSHCN). Additionally, we analyzed previously conducted family/caregiver focus groups by Child Medical Services (CMS) to better understand family/caregiver needs. From there, my co-intern and I interviewed various CMS staff, Title V consultants, and CYSHCN Family Leaders, to gain additional information relevant to the unique needs of CYSHCN and their families in Florida.
With this information, we developed a tip sheet for providers with evidence-based strategies to implement in their care to enhance patient/family/provider partnerships and equitable delivery of care. Within each strategy, we identified evidence-based resources to aid providers in implementing the strategies in their practice. During the family leader interviews, we also identified a gap in family/patient knowledge of their rights within the medical home setting. Given this, we decided to additionally create a patient/family specific tip sheet aimed at educating families/caregivers on their rights and what they should have access to within their child’s healthcare.
Click here to see Julie's tip sheet for caregivers!
Previous Title V Knowledge
Prior to this internship program, I had a general understanding of Title V. Since I was a LEAP scholar in undergrad, it allowed me to have a good baseline of what Title V was and the different kinds of Title V programs that existed. However, I felt that my Title V knowledge was more in the academia space, rather than in state health systems. Therefore, the Title V internship program helped expand my understanding of the work being done on a state level and how government Title V programs operate. I felt that I left this internship program with a solid understanding of the Title V system and felt more prepared to enter the MCAH workforce by truly understanding how the Title V system operates.
Key Takeaways
The most challenging part of this project was my initial lack of knowledge on the Florida health care system. I had never lived or worked in Florida, so I initially felt like I lacked the experience to be able to appropriately identify the needs of this area. However, my team was extremely welcoming and my ability to connect with providers and families made this initial lack of knowledge not as big of a hurdle as I anticipated. I came into the project with some prior research and practice experience within the CYSHCN field, which ended up being very helpful in connecting with this project. With this project, I learned that it is okay to not be an initial expert in what you are working on, as long as you are open to learning from and connecting with those with lived experience.
Advice for Title V Interns
The Title V internship was one of my favorite experiences in graduate school. I'm really glad I got to (virtually) step outside of CA to see the MCAH work being done in other states, and how the Title V system operates. This made me a stronger overall MCH professional and provided me with knowledge that I'm not sure I would have received in a different internship program. My biggest advice is to be open to placements that you might not initially put as your #1 choice. My CYSHCN placement was not my initial #1 choice in the application process, but I ended up loving it and was really glad I was placed there. Be open to new experiences and widening your MCAH knowledge net; it serves you well in the future.
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