UCLA research shows dramatic savings for Medicaid when head start parents learn to care for kids

Health literacy training reduced ER and clinic visits and boosted parents' confidence

LOS ANGELES, Calif., Nov. 7, 2007 – New research proves that a “dose” of hands-on health care training can transform parents’ abilities to care for common childhood ailments at home – and save Medicaid millions of dollars annually.

Tracking 9,240 Head Start families enrolled in a health literacy program – and impacting nearly 20,000 children in 35 states – researchers found that visits to a hospital ER or clinic dropped by 58 percent and 42 percent, respectively, as parents opted to treat their children’s fevers, colds and earaches at home. This added up to a potential annual savings to Medicaid of $554 per family in direct costs associated with such visits, or about $5.1 million annually, according to the UCLA/Johnson & Johnson Health Care Institute for Head Start, which conducted the study.