In 2019, the Tennessee Department of Health streamlined three public health programs into one integrated model of care coordination, Community Health Access and Navigation in Tennessee (CHANT). CHANT is a voluntary statewide care coordination service through local health departments to assist families with children in coordinating medical and social service needs. The goal is to reach families as soon as possible prenatally or after birth.
Families with young children face significant barriers in finding and accessing services to meet their needs. A complex array of services exists across health, early care and education, economic assistance, and family supports.
In Tennessee, the Department of Health streamlined three public health programs—Help Us Grow Successfully (a home-grown, light-touch home visiting program), Children’s Special Services (care coordination and reimbursement for medical services and treatment for Children and Youth with Special Health Care Needs), and TennCare Kids (Medicaid) Community Outreach— into one integrated model of care coordination, Community Health Access and Navigation in Tennessee (CHANT). CHANT is a voluntary statewide care coordination service through local health departments to assist families with children in coordinating medical and social service needs. The goal is to reach families as soon as possible prenatally or after birth. The state established this system to strengthen connections using the following approaches:
- Statewide call center
- Local health departments as community hubs
- Contact with pregnant parents and parents of newborns
- Integrated care coordination
- Referrals of eligible families to local home visiting programs
Read the case study to learn how Tennessee operationalized these approaches as well as lessons learned over the course of the work.
Interested in other states’ approaches? Read the other case studies in this series, here.
