Presenting Author: Stacey Kallem, MD, National Clinician Scholars Program, University of Pennsylvania

ABSTRACT

Background: Maternal and child home visiting programs provide at-risk pregnant women and families of young children resources that help improve maternal and child health. In Philadelphia, there are numerous home visiting providers, with differing enrollment criteria; however, there is limited coordination amongst providers and it is unknown if current services adequately address needs.

Objectives: 1) To determine which communities in Philadelphia have concentrated risk for poor maternal and child health outcomes. 2) To determine the current penetrance of home visiting programs in Philadelphia. 3) To identify gaps in Philadelphia's maternal and child home visiting services.

Methods: All maternal and child home visiting programs completed a survey on program enrollment. A community risk index for maternal and child health by zip code was created with data from the American Community Survey and Philadelphia Department of Public Health Vital Statistics. ArcGIS was used to map home visiting penetrance and the community risk index by zip code.

Results: The penetrance of home visiting in Philadelphia was low with a city-wide average of 7.6% of at-risk families enrolled in a home visiting program. Furthermore, when comparing the maps of home visiting penetrance with that of the community risk index, areas of low home visiting penetrance but high community risk were apparent.

Implications: Current home visiting services do not adequately address the need. A coordinated intake system could help address this gap by enhancing home visiting recruitment and referral and encouraging collaboration amongst home visiting service providers so areas of unmet need can be targeted.

Authors: Stacey Kallem, MD; Meredith Matone, PhD; Amy Hillier, MSW, PhD; and Sara Kinsman, MD, PhD.