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Moments that matter – How a “light bulb moment” in DFR is helping connect moms and babies to the care they need
Success begins with an idea. Kind of like building a better mouse trap. Do this, and supposedly the world will beat a path to your door. At least according to the 19th century idiom attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Sometimes a better mouse trap is a button. At least it was for the Division of Family Resources. In November, DFR’s deputy director, Sunshine Beam, attended a few meetings about Indiana’s My Healthy Baby program. My Healthy Baby is a collaboration between FSSA, the Indiana Department of Health and the Indiana Department of Child Services. This program connects pregnant women to providers in their own community who can offer free, personalized guidance and support during pregnancy and for at least the first 12 months after the baby’s birth. Needless to say, it’s a big part of Gov. Holcomb’s focus on improving infant and maternal mortality.
After a talk with My Healthy Baby project manager Karen Mckeown about how we could let people know about the program, Sunshine asked herself “Where would a pregnant mom go if she needs medical coverage?” Well, she might go to the FSSA Benefits Portal. That is when Sunshine realized we needed to put a My Healthy Baby information link in our FSSA Benefits Portal. Not only would this help give the program more visibility, but it would also allow us to track how many individuals were accessing the information and where those individuals lived. Now when an individual who is pregnant goes to the portal to get medical coverage, she can also sign up for the My Healthy Baby program.
Sunshine and her team, which included Joe Montgomery, Moser Consulting and DFR subject matter expert Deb Moffett, got to work. By July, the My Healthy Baby button was on the Benefits Portal page.
Well, there wasn’t just an increase. People really began “beating a path” to the My Healthy Baby door, right through the benefits portal. Since July, the weekly average referrals have increased from approximately 25 a week to around 80! That’s a remarkable 312% jump in program referrals.
I think this is a great example of what may have seemed like a simple idea but was truly a Moment that Matters.
Dan
Note: If you have any examples or stories of work you and your colleagues do that matters, please send them my way. You can send them to me at SecOffice@FSSA.in.gov with the heading Moments that Matter. These stories will be archived on The Hub here.