Use of qualitative methods and user-centered design to develop customized health information technology tools within federally qualified health centers to keep children insured.

Abstract

Lack of health insurance negatively impacts children's health. Despite federal initiatives to expand children's coverage and accelerate state outreach efforts, millions of US children remain uninsured or experience frequent gaps in coverage. Most current efforts to enroll and retain eligible children in public insurance programs take place outside of the health care system. This study is a partnership between patients' families, medical informaticists, federally qualified health center (FQHC) staff, and researchers to build and test information technology tools to help FQHCs reach uninsured children and those at risk for losing coverage.