Evidence Tools
MCHbest. Medical Home: Personal Doctor or Nurse.

Overview. School-based health centers (SBHCs) provide elementary, middle, and high school students a variety of healthcare services on school premises or at off-site centers linked to schools. Teams of nurses, nurse practitioners, and physicians often provide primary and preventive care, including well-child visits, vaccinations, and sports physicals, along with mental healthcare, sick visits, and sexual health education.[1] Reproductive health services may be offered in middle and high schools, as allowed by district policy and state law. Providers at SBHCs often manage chronic illnesses such as asthma, mental health conditions, diabetes, and obesity. Most patients treated at SBHCs are children insured by Medicaid or children without insurance.[2, 3] SBHCs are most common in urban areas and may be funded at the federal, state, or local level.[4] State policies vary regarding which services may be provided to a student without a parent or guardian present.[1]

Evidence. Scientifically Rigorous Evidence. Strategies with this rating are most likely to be effective. These strategies have been tested in multiple robust studies in a variety of populations and settings with consistently positive results, both on their own and in combination with other strategies. (Clarifying Note: The WWFH database calls this "scientifically supported evidence").

Access the peer-reviewed evidence through the MCH Digital Library or related evidence source. (Read more about understanding evidence ratings).

Source. What Works for Health (WWFH) Database (County Health Rankings and Roadmaps)

Outcome Components. This strategy has shown to have impact on the following outcomes (Read more about these categories):

• Access to/Receipt of Care. This strategy increases the ability for individuals to obtain healthcare services when needed, including preventive, diagnostic, and treatment services.
• Utilization. This strategy improves the extent to which individuals and communities use available healthcare services.
• Health Outcomes. This strategy helps contribute to reducing avoidable differences among socioeconomic and demographic groups or geographical areas in health status and health outcomes such as disease, disability, or mortality.

Detailed Outcomes. For specific outcomes related to each study supporting this strategy, access the peer-reviewed evidence and read the Intervention Results for each study.

Intervention Type. Direct Care (Read more about intervention types and levels as defined by the Public Health Intervention Wheel).

Intervention Level. Community-Focused

Examples from the Field. There are currently no ESMs that use this strategy. As Title V agencies begin to incorporate this strategy into ESMs, examples will be available here. Until then, you can search for ESMs that have similar intervention components in the ESM database.

Sample ESMs. Here are sample ESMs to use as models for your own measures using the Results-Based Accountability framework (for suggestions on how to develop programs to support this strategy, see The Role of Title V in Adapting Strategies).