Assessing the Effect of School-Based Health Centers on Achievement of National Performance Measures.
Khaleel S Hussaini, Tabatha Offutt-Powell, Gloria James and 1 others
PMID 34254315WHAT IT FOUND
Medicaid-insured teens enrolled in school-based health centers had more office visits and were more likely to receive preventive care, including risk assessments, BMI screening, nutrition and activity counseling, STI screening, and mental health visits.
Key findings
01Enrolled students had more office visits than non-enrolled peers.
02Enrolled students were more likely to receive well-child visits, annual risk assessments, BMI screenings, nutrition counseling, physical activity counseling, STI/chlamydia screening, and mental health visits.
03Depression screening could not be assessed because the required codes were absent from the claims data.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study could not verify if all non-SBHC Medicaid youth were actually students because school rosters were not available due to privacy laws. Depression screening was not assessed because the required ICD codes did not appear in the claims data, so no conclusions can be drawn about this NPM. Claims data are prone to coding errors and variation, which may affect the accuracy of the measured outcomes. The groups differed significantly at baseline (e.g., SBHC students were more likely to be female, non-Hispanic black, or rural), and while propensity weighting reduced bias, it cannot account for unmeasured factors like family structure or baseline health status.
Declared interests
The authors claim no conflict of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that SBHCs improve depression screening rates. The study did not find the necessary codes in the data to assess this measure, so the effect on depression screening is unknown.