A School and Community Healthcare Model Integrating Services and Finance

Objectives: This paper describes the historical healthcare provisions and financing in many Louisiana school districts and identifies both the need and opportunities for restructuring financing and clinical models to fit within a broader, more contemporary system of public health services. Methods: We reviewed existing services and financing data, existing funding and services policy, and conducted on-site assessment and discussion of school district services and funding. These methods involved participant observers over a 10-year period. Results: There is a deep database of both fiscal and clinical patterns of school district health services in Louisiana. Conclusions: There are numerous opportunities to restructure service patterns that will become clinically more effective and fiscally more sustainable through internal school district reorganization and external partnerships.