Identifying wraparound services for complex care

Children’s Health in Dallas was awarded a Medicaid contract by Health & Human Service Commission for the STAR Kids Program, a health plan catered to a population of low-income families with a medically complex child. To address the unique needs of these families, Children's sought to better understand the service gaps and experiences of families currently served by Children's Complex Care Clinic — and to identify the nonclinical, wraparound services and supports that would help them thrive.

We conducted 1 hour of contextual and semi-structured interviews with each family in their homes. We inquired about family dynamic, child’s diagnosis, hospitalization, information access, and the makings of both good and bad days. For a subset of families, we asked them to share artifacts—such as albums and organizing tools.

After the interviews, we facilitated 1 hour of generative research to shift the participants’ mindsets from present to future and surface potential solutions. First, we asked participants to envision and write down an ideal future for themselves, their child, and their family. Second, we asked the participants to use a Venn diagram and series of stickers to diagram qualities of their ideal vision for themselves, their child, and their family.

We facilitated a card sorting exercise to identify highest pain points and participant-centered solutions related to aspects of the caregiver journey. We asked participants to sort through 22 cards and choose 3 that they would love to completely redesign.

We asked families if they would be closer to achieving the currently unattained components of their ideal vision if the chosen 3 journey aspects were redesigned. The answers were unanimously, “yes.”

I collaborated with colleagues to conduct semi-structured contextual interviews and generative research in 17 families' homes, 4 of which were Spanish-speaking only. Following home interviews, we analyzed findings and developed a comprehensive collection of experiences, gaps, and actionable opportunities for Children's to develop wraparound services for the STAR Kids program. We presented our findings through sharing families' stories, a presentation, and a final report—wherein we encouraged an evolved definition of the patient to include the entire family, with a particular focus on Mom.

Our work propelled Children's Health to co-design and test new service prototypes with low-income families with a medically complex child — and ultimately led to the creation of a new HMO offering for similar families.

Final Report

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