TeleKidcare® uses interactive video technology to “bring the doctor to the school”. This unique health care delivery system works to decrease health disparities and has proven effective in overcoming significant access issues including transportation availability and language barriers. TeleKidcare® enables school children with health care concerns to “see” a doctor from the convenience of the school nurse’s office.
You can view a video produced at KUCTT about the local TeleKidcare® program here.
In February 1998, KUMC partnered with a local urban school district, USD 500, to establish TeleKidcare®, providing timely health care to students at four elementary schools. Since that time, with funding support from local and state agencies, the program expanded to include additional elementary, middle, and high schools.
TeleKidcare® was originally designed to provide acute care to school children for sore throats, ear aches and similar ailments. Since its inception, the TeleKidcare® model has shifted to provide primarily mental health services as parents and school nurses identified a gap in the availability of mental heath services. TeleKidcare® allows families to seek treatment in a familiar environment free from any cultural stigma toward mental health. Typical services now include assessing, treating, and managing a range of mental health concerns such as ADHD, depression and mood disorders, grief and adjustment reactions, and anxiety disorders.
TeleKidcare® is a community-centered, collaborative effort to provide care for underserved school children. With the essential support of school district and administrators, the day-to-day involvement of the school nurse, and the expertise provided by KUMC doctors, TeleKidcare® has conducted thousands of acute care and mental health consults using the latest video technologies.
As with many community projects, TeleKidcare® started with federal, state, and foundation grant funding. These funders recognized early on that TeleKidcare® had the ability to reduce health care disparities while providing cost effective health care. TeleKidcare® now bills insurance just as with in-person consults, in an effort become financially sustainable. Due in large part to KUCTT’s efforts, Kansas Medicaid and many private insurance companies now reimburse for telemedicine services, and more are expected to do so in the future.
On June 22, 2000, TeleKidcare® was designated as a Model that Works by the Bureau of Primary Health Care, Health Resources and Services Administration, US Department of Health and Human Services. Recognized for its proclivity to replication and to serving the needs of the under-served and under-insured, TeleKidcare® strives to increase access to health services while reducing disparity.
TeleKidcare® was honored again in 2003 with the Best Practice Initiative by the Assistant Secretary for Health and the Office of Public Health and Science. The Best Practice Initiative is designed to showcase the best practices in public health from around the country to foster an environment of peer learning and collaboration.
You can read more about the TeleKidcare® program by visiting the Best Practice Initiative website (requires Adobe Acrobat).
For more information on the TeleKidcare® Project, please contact:
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The University of Kansas Medical Center