Fiscal Year 2004 Proposed Budget

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DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES
FAMILY HEALTH SERVICES

PROGRAM MISSION: To prevent adverse health conditions, and promote optimal physical, social and mental health outcomes for women and children through appropriate family planning, prenatal, child health, early intervention, nutritional and preventive dental services.

The programs in this area include Family Planning; Maternal Health; Child Health; Immunizations; Women, Infants, and Children (WIC); and Dental services.

• The goals of the Family Planning Program are to prevent unintended pregnancy, support planned conception and promote the health of women of childbearing age by providing clinic services, contraceptive information and health education regarding the number and spacing of children.

• The goals of the Maternal Health Program are to prevent poor pregnancy outcomes and promote optimum future functioning of the mother and child by providing prenatal care consisting of clinic services, health education, nutrition counseling and case management services. Women served by the program have no insurance coverage and would otherwise have no access to prenatal care. In the last four weeks of their pregnancy, clients are transferred to the Virginia Hospital Center-Arlington clinic for their final weeks of care and delivery. The goal of the Resource Mothers Program (grant funded) is to prevent poor pregnancy outcomes among infants of adolescent mothers by improving access to early, comprehensive prenatal care, and promoting utilization of other needed health services.

• The goals of the Child Health Program are to prevent childhood disease, disability, or mortality and to promote optimum physical and mental development by providing preventive health assessments and parental education at recommended intervals for infants and children through the age of five years. The Immunization Program provides immunizations to children in order to prevent morbidity and mortality from vaccine-preventable diseases. Immunizations are one of the most effective public health interventions available.

• The goal of the Case Management Program is to promote family empowerment and self-sufficiency through the home-based interventions of assessment, teaching, guidance, advocacy and community linkages. The Case Management Program provides universal assessment for all referrals, including Healthy Families and other support programs. The Comprehensive Health Investment Project of Virginia (CHIP) targets the physical health and well being of children, from birth to six years of age, through home-based visiting services and the provision of linkages with other community based health care providers. CHIP services assist the family by addressing factors such as housing, nutrition, education, employment and parenting skills.

• The goal of the Women, Infants and Children Program (WIC) is to prevent nutritional deficiencies and to support optimum growth and development for the medically indigent, maternal and child health population. The program provides a combination of direct nutritional supplementation, nutrition education, and increased access to health care and social services for pregnant, breast-feeding and postpartum women; infants; and children up to the age of five years. To better meet the needs of the community, WIC services are located in community sites such as Arlington Mill, the Career Center for teens, and Fort Myer.

• The goal of the Dental Program is to prevent the harmful effects of dental disease through preventive and diagnostic core services, with restorative services provided as needed. The target populations are children through high school age, with special emphasis given to preventive treatments among children in grades two and five, adults age 60 and older, and adults referred from the County's Refugee Clinic. Requests from other adult clients (up to age 60) of the Department of Human Services are referred to the Northern Virginia Regional Dental Clinic, which is a cooperative program among Northern Virginia jurisdictions.

SIGNIFICANT BUDGET HIGHLIGHTS:

• Personnel costs reduced ($21,844) to reflect lower VRS retirement rates effective in FY 2002.

• Non-personnel costs increased ($41,165) to reflect a rent increase at the 3033 Wilson Boulevard location.

• Client fees and Medicaid payments increased ($40,451) to reflect amounts actually collected in FY 2002.

• FTEs, personnel expense and other grant revenues are reduced due to the termination of a Freddie Mac grant ($25,000) supporting the Resource Mothers Program. The reduction in other grants is partially offset by the increase in the CHIP of Virginia grant ($17,206).

PERFORMANCE MEASURES:

Family Planning Program Objective: To limit the proportion of unintended pregnancies among clients using pregnancy testing services to 30 percent or less.

• The state standard target for percent of unintended pregnancies is 30%.

Maternity Program Objective: To increase to 55 percent the percent of women enrolling in prenatal care in the first trimester of pregnancy, in order to minimize the incidence of low birth weight infants born to program participants.

Child Health Program Objective: To increase to 90 percent the proportion of children in the Child Health Program who receive the full schedule of basic, age-appropriate well-child exams.

Immunization Program Objective: To increase to 90 percent the number of children in the community adequately immunized by 24 months of age.

• In FY 1991, only 53% of children were adequately immunized by 24 months of age.

• FY 2001 actuals included increase due to Hepatitis B initiative.

Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) Program Objective: To improve the nutritional status of children from birth to age four and pregnant and breastfeeding women.

Dental Program Objective: To provide appropriate levels of completed dental care to eligible clients.

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