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2-1-1 hotline increases children’s access to developmental services
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The use of a call center for early childhood developmental screenings significantly improved the number of children who were screened and received services, according to the results of a randomized controlled trial.
Bergen B. Nelson, MD, MS, a general pediatrician and child health services researcher at the Children’s Hospital of Richmond at Virginia Commonwealth University, told Infectious Diseases in Children that families would call 2-1-1 for a “wide range of reasons,” including food, housing and utility assistance.
In the study, all children between the ages of 12 and 42 months who presented for well-child visits at a community health center that served mostly Hispanic families were randomly assigned to receive developmental screening at the center or through the 2-1-1 call center.
“As a primary care pediatrician myself, I know we often struggle to get developmental screening done and connect families to resources, so I saw this as an opportunity for 2-1-1 to partner with primary care pediatrics,” Nelson said.
When screened using the 2-1-1 call center, a care coordinator made three-way calls to connect parents with local service agencies when possible. If not possible, the care coordinator completed the referral forms, which were sent to the service agencies, or called the agencies for the parents.
The care coordinators also followed up with the families to facilitate connections with further evaluations and services.
Of the 152 children included in the trial, 77 were randomly assigned to the 2-1-1 call center group and 75 to the control group. When Nelson and colleagues conducted an intent-to-treat analysis, 32% of children screened over the phone were referred to services compared with 9% of children in the control group (P = .001). More children in the 2-1-1 call center group also received services (16%) compared with those in the control group (1%) within 6 months (P = .002).
“2-1-1 call centers across the country are all a little different, and some may have more capacity or desire than others to implement something like this,” Nelson said. “Whatever the situation may be, partnerships between pediatrics primary care and 2-1-1 have the potential to help children and families when they can customize process to meet specific needs.” – by Katherine Bortz
Disclosure: The authors report no relevant financial disclosures.
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