NEWS RELEASE

The Kentucky Association of Health Plans announced its “Healthy Back-to-School” grant program on Wednesday, an initiative aimed at increasing COVID-19 vaccine access and acceptance by empowering local schools with funding for vaccine incentives.

KAHP, the trade association representing all commercial insurers and Medicaid Managed Care organizations in the state, says individual schools or school districts can apply online to receive a supply of $20 Mastercard gift cards to be given out at school vaccination events for individuals receiving a COVID-19 first dose vaccination or a booster.

“Local school leaders know their communities well and are extremely effective at designing school programming to help increase youth COVID-19 vaccination,” said Tom Stephens, KAHP executive director. “We want to empower them with resources to make clinics even more successful.  In our experience partnering with many non-profit community organizations around the Commonwealth, the incentives provide a big boost to any effort.  That’s exactly what we’re working to replicate at schools.”

Since the arrival of the vaccine, Kentucky’s Medicaid Managed Care Organizations and commercial insurers have been reaching out to members through digital and radio ads, robust cash incentives, transportation coordination, pop-up clinics, clinics staffed by bilingual personnel, homebound vaccination visits, text and email campaigns, yard signs, billboards, outbound calls to members prioritized by risk tier, personalized assistance from advocates with sign-ups and digital site navigation, direct mail, and follow-up on second and third dose appointments based on claims data.

KAHP has been engaged in a 14-phase effort including such things as a Kentucky Sports Radio vaccine tour, a theme park vacation getaway drawing, gas card giveaways, non-profit vaccine clinic competitions with large grant payouts, and more.

The association is also funding gift card incentives for the Statewide COVID-19 Vaccine Extravaganza currently being held in conjunction with 16 health departments across the state. To learn more about all their activities and opportunities, visit KAHP.org.

Kentucky Association of Health Plans is the trade organization representing the Kentucky health insurance community. KAHP is a leader on issues that strengthen the accessibility, value, and quality of health care in the Commonwealth. Members include Aetna, Anthem, CareSource, Humana, Passport Health Plan by Molina Healthcare, UnitedHealth Group and WellCare. For more information visit: www.kahp.org or follow @kyhealthplans on Twitter.