Center for Excellence in Rural Health

About Kentucky Homeplace

Mission

The mission of the Kentucky Homeplace Program is to provide access to medical, social, and environmental services for the citizens of the Commonwealth.

Goals

The goal of the Kentucky Homeplace Program is to educate Kentuckians to identify risk factors and use preventative measures to become a healthier people with knowledge and skills to access the healthcare and social system.

Objectives

1. Provide access to medical, social and environmental services by networking them with a service provider at the lowest cost possible.
2. Educate individuals to access the appropriate healthcare to decrease uncompensated hospitalization and emergency room visits.
3. Network with multi-disciplinary agencies acting as a liaison on behalf of individuals and their families.
4. Provide education on primary and preventative care to promote a better quality of life.
5. Collect and analyze data to identify health trends, socio-cultural and economic barriers to healthcare.
6. Find solutions to bridge the gap between uninsured and underserved individuals and the healthcare delivery system.

Background

Kentucky Homeplace was established in 1994 by the Kentucky General Assembly. The program was originally developed by the UK Center for Excellence in Rural Health as a demonstration project, and was funded by the Kentucky Cabinet for Human Resources. The plan was to hire people from the affected communities and train them to be Family Healthcare Advisors (FHCAs). These FHCAs would then provide a variety of health and social services to people living in their communities.

The program began with a staff of 34 serving 14 counties. These first FHCAs set out to help their new clients in a variety of ways. The first step in the process was usually a home visit. While there the FHCA would assess the family’s health care needs and help them decide how best to address these needs. The FHCA would encourage their clients to have regular medical checkups and seek preventive care, thus reducing the use of more expensive emergency care. It was believed that the message would be better received from the FHCA, who was a member of the community, than from an outsider. Clients would also be linked to reduced price and free medical services and drugs whenever possible.

Kentucky Homeplace is still using this model today. It has proven to be an effective way to link needy individuals with services that they couldn’t afford or didn’t know were available. As a consequence, the overall cost of medical care is reduced through the use of more efficient primary care instead of inappropriate use of emergency care.

See Also

• Statewide Service Area Map
• Service Area Fact Sheets
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Quarterly Reports