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OHIO
Cincinnati children's hospital
launches program for foster children
Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center is
leading an effort to improve the health and education of foster children
in Ohio.
The Foster Youth ePassport program is intended to create an electronic
record that stores health, education and social services records of
foster children.
Many foster children experience problems obtaining services because of
missing or incomplete records as they move among different homes,
schools, social service agencies and medical providers, said Dr. Robert
Shapiro, medical director of ePassport in Ohio and of the Mayerson
Center for Safe and Healthy Children.
“When children enter foster care, their medical and scholastic histories
are often unavailable to the foster parent or to Job and Family
Services, their temporary guardian. This interrupts routine health care,
medical treatment and education,” Shapiro said.
Access to such information will help level the playing
field for foster care children, Shapiro said.
The ePassport program was started by the Community College Foundation,
based in California, which has received federal funding to establish it
as a national pilot project in Ohio. The program will be piloted in
Hamilton and Franklin counties later this year. Partners include public
school systems, Job and Family Services, Cincinnati Children's and the
pediatric hospital in Columbus.
The program uses a smart card to access an Internet-based health and
education data system. Records are updated in real time, are portable
and secure. According to a news release, ePassport makes foster youth
information instantly accessible 24/7, preventing overimmunization,
medication interactions and misdiagnoses.
It also allows education testing, placement and achievement data to
accompany students from school to school. The database can be updated at
any time.
Approximately 20,000 children are in foster care in
Ohio.
29 June 2005
http://cincinnati.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/stories/2005/06/27/daily16.html
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