UVM AHEC
Document Type
Poster
Publication Date
2024
Focus Area
Social Determinants of Health
Abstract
Background
On July 1, 2022, Vermont legislature enacted the Immigrant Health Insurance Plan (IHIP) designed to provide health insurance for pregnant people and children under the age of 19 who do not qualify for Medicaid due to immigration status. While many have enrolled, we aim to assess whether current outreach and educational materials effectively prepare healthcare professionals, advocates, and community organizations identify and enroll eligible individuals.
Methods
We developed an electronic survey compromised of 13 close-ended questions and 6 open-ended questions. The survey was distributed statewide to primary care providers, social workers, community partners, and the Department of Vermont Health Access (DVHA) Assisters. Key themes from the open-ended questions were identified and examined. Interviews with key community partners, Vermont Representative Houghton, the University of Vermont Medical Center Financial Advocacy group, DVHA and the Health Care Advocates at Vermont Legal Aid helped inform our perspective and contributed to the development of the survey questions.
Results
We received 125 responses, with the majority (57%) being medical providers. A considerable number of respondents (64.8%) reported being unfamiliar with the IHIP program. When looking specifically at medical providers, this percentage rose to 88.4%. We found that individuals had similar levels of unfamiliarity with IHIP statewide. Importantly, only 4.6% of total respondents believed there was adequate knowledge of IHIP amongst the eligible population.
Conclusions
There is a pressing need for increased awareness and education of IHIP amongst healthcare professionals that work directly with immigrants. A widespread effort throughout Vermont is needed, as respondents from counties outside of Chittenden County, Vermont’s most populous county, demonstrate similar levels of unfamiliarity as within it. To increase awareness, respondents provided suggestions for multi-lingual education efforts, such as brochures, informative sessions, and trainings. We plan to collaborate with AHEC to develop educational opportunities for the primary care workforce.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Suberu, Eunice; Multani, Harsimran; Reigle, Jake; Urie, Patti Smith; Pasanen, Mark MD; Maclean, Charles D. MD; and Roderigue, Alicia S., "Vermont Immigrant Health Insurance Plan: Outreach and Education" (2024). UVM AHEC. 16.
https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/uvmahec/16
Comments
LCOM students Eunice Suberu, Harsimran Multani, and Jake Reigle presented the PPT presentation to DVHA stakeholders on Sept 5, 2024.
Eunice Suberu presented the poster at the SNMA RMEC conference in Boston, MA on October 5, 2024.
Eunice Suberu, Harsimran Multani, and Jake Reigle presented the poster at the Vermont Medical Society annual meeting on Nov 1, 2024.