Providing Outreach and Enrollment Assistance: Lessons Learned from Community Health Centers in Massachusetts

Methods

Telephone interviews were conducted with staff at a sample of nine health centers, selected to capture diversity in the location and size (total patients) of the 36 health centers in Massachusetts, as well as variation in the number of their patients who were uninsured in 2007 (the year that coverage was expanded in the state), and variation in the change in the uninsured rate over the period 2007-2011. Data from the Uniform Data System (UDS), which health centers that receive Section 330 funding from the federal Health Resources and Services Administration must file annually, were used to identify the sample of health centers.¹ Interviews were conducted August 12-20, 2013 with health center CEOs or COOs and staff who oversee health centers’ outreach and enrollment efforts. Key staff were identified with the assistance of the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers. The open-ended interviews were guided by questions developed in consultation with the League.