Our Mission
We support school-based health centers (SBHC) to design new, scalable systems of care that address the fundamental medical and academic challenges that come from a lack of access to high quality medical care and wellness education.
SBHC Benefits
Multiple Advantages
Students who have access to school-based health centers earn better grades, enjoy more physical activity, and eat healthier foods than their counterparts.
Treatment
Asthma management in school-based health centers decreases hospitalization rates by 75-85% and improves the use of peak flow meters and inhalers, saving approximately $970 per asthmatic child per school year.
Better Attendance
Since SBHCs are located in schools, where the student spends their time, they reduce absenteeism, emergency room utilization, hospitalization, and Medicaid costs overall—particularly for children with chronic health conditions like asthma. Students get treated by a medical provider and, most likely, sent right back to class. No need to make appointments weeks away, burden parents and guardians with missed work or scrambling for transportation.
Mental Health Services
Mental health counseling is the leading reason for student visits to SBHCs across the country. SBHCs proved the most effective means to reach all youth in need for mental health services by virtually eliminating all access barriers to care. Several studies have shown that students are as much as 21 times more likely to make mental health visits to their SBHC than to a community outpatient center.
Access to Care
School-based health centers increase the use of primary care particularly for vulnerable youth who live in poverty, and for adolescents, the group most likely to lack routine preventive care.
Family Planning
Adolescents with access to school-based health centers are more likely to get reproductive preventive care, be screened for a sexually transmitted disease or infection, receive sexual health education, use protection and/or abstain from sexual activity.
Cost Savings
School-based health centers reduce Medicaid and CHIP expenditures related to inpatient and emergency department use.
Health Equity
School-based health centers are a powerful tool to increase health equity for Pennsylvania’s most vulnerable children and youth.
References
Walker SC, Kerns SE, Lyon AR, Bruns EJ, Cosgrove TJ. Impact of School-Based Health Center use on academic outcomes. The Journal of Adolescent Health. Mar 2010;46(3):251-257.
McNall MA, Lichty LF, Mavis B. The impact of school-based health centers on the health outcomes of middle school and high school students. American Journal of Public Health. Sep 2010;100(9):1604-1610.
Geierstanger SP, Amaral G, Mansour M, Walters SR. School-Based Health Centers and Academic Performance: Research, Challenges, and Recommendations. Journal of School Health. Nov 2004;74(9):347-352.
Soleimanpour S, Geierstanger S. (2015). Documenting the Link between School-Based Health Centers and Academic Success: A Guide for the Field. California School-Based Health Alliance.
Gall G, Pagano ME, Desmond MS, Perrin JM, Murphy JM. Utility of Psychosocial Screening at a School-Based Health Center. Journal of School Health. Sep 2000;70(7):292-298.
Webber MP, Carpiniello KE, Oruwariye T, Lo Y, Burton WB, Appel DK. Burden of Asthma in Inner-City Elementary School Children: Do School-Based Health Centers Make a Difference? Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. Feb 2003;157(2):125-129.
Nordin JD, Solberg LI, Parker ED. Adolescent primary care visit patterns. Annals of Family Medicine. Nov-Dec 2010;8(6):511-516.
Irwin CE, Jr., Adams SH, Park MJ, Newacheck PW. Preventive care for adolescents: few get visits and fewer get services. Pediatrics. Apr 2009;123(4):e565-572.
Guo JJ, Jang R, Keller KN, McCracken AL, Pan W, Cluxton RJ. Impact of School-Based Health Centers on Children with Asthma. Journal of Adolescent Health. Oct 2005;37(4):266-274.
Lurie N, Bauer EJ, Brady C. Asthma Outcomes at an Inner-City School-Based Health Center. Journal of School Health. Jan 2001;71(1):9-16.
Braun RA, Provost JM. Bridging the gap: using school-based health services to improve chlamydia screening among young women. American Journal of Public Health. 2010;100(9):1624-1629.
Crosby RA, Lawrence JS. Adolescents’ Use of School‐Based Health Clinics for Reproductive Health Services: Data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Journal of School Health. 2000;70(1):22-27.
Minguez M, Santelli JS, Gibson E, Orr M, Samant S. Reproductive health impact of a school health center. The Journal of Adolescent Health. Mar 2015;56(3):338-344.
Waszak C, Neidell S. SchoolBased and School-Linked Clinics: Update 1991. Washington, DC: Center for Population Options; 1991.
Juszczak L, Melinkovich P, Kaplan D. Use of Health and Mental Health Services by Adolescents Across Multiple Delivery Sites. Journal of Adolescent Health. Jun 2003;32(6 Suppl):108-118. 5
