DC Health to standardize school-based health centers and pursue Medicaid billing

Committee Chair Christina Henderson asked about school-based health centers at the June 16 DC Health oversight hearing after earlier public testimony from the Georgetown Medical Legal Partnership and other witnesses.

Standardization and partners: Director Ayanna Bennett said the agency will operate five of seven school-based health centers in FY26 directly, keeping the two highest-utilization centers contracted to Unity (Cardozo and Coolidge). "We're going to staff it, in somewhat the same way. It's a little bit more clinically focused," Bennett said, adding the agency will create a consistent base model across sites and then augment with community partnerships.

Service focus and utilization: Bennett noted that a few high schools have heavy utilization (Cardozo ~1,700 visits in a year; Coolidge ~1,400; Woodson ~1,300) and that other high schools have lower visit volumes. The agency plans to prioritize adolescent health services including sexual health, asthma care, oral health and behavioral health.

Medicaid billing and sustainability: Bennett told the committee DC Health and the Office of Health Care Finance are in process to have school health services become Medicaid providers; she said she was "hopeful" this would be in place by the start of the school year. The goal is to bill for reimbursable clinical services to improve financial sustainability of school-based clinical care.

Hours and staffing: DC Health intends to keep current hours for the start of the transition and move to full-time coverage as staffing permits. The agency also plans to retain some school-based providers under contract where utilization and service models warrant.

Ending: The committee requested updates on the Medicaid provider application status and timelines. DC Health said it would follow up on readiness for billing operations as part of its June 23 budget materials.