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Whatcom County task force reports Healthy Children’s Fund progress; Medicaid now covers doula services
Summary
At its April 27 meeting, the Whatcom County Child and Family Well-being Task Force heard county staff report that Medicaid now reimburses doula services, a predevelopment firm has been hired to support small child-care providers, and a subsidy contract is nearing legal and finance review with a potential launch this fall.
The Whatcom County Child and Family Well-being Task Force on April 27 heard a series of program updates from county staff on the Healthy Children’s Fund, including progress on a subsidy contract and expanding support for doulas now reimbursed by Medicaid.
Sarah, who leads the task force updates on the fund, told members the county has selected a predevelopment firm to manage preconstruction work and help smaller providers navigate architecture, cost estimates and RFP requirements. That step is intended to reduce the administrative burden on small providers and speed project completion.
“We have some subsidy contracts; both are finished the back-and-forth between us and the agencies,” Sarah said, adding that those agreements will move through legal and finance review and, pending approvals, could be on a county council agenda in May. She said the county aims for a subsidy that brings families “as high as possible to that $300 a month range.”
Sarah also reported the Healthy Children’s Fund successfully launched cohort 2 of a doula program and that Medicaid is now reimbursing doula services. “Because Medicaid is now paying for those doula services, we’re considering how we can enhance the doula program,” she said, describing plans for mentorship, case consultation with a nurse practitioner, and billing support to help doulas access reimbursement.
On staffing, Sarah said PeaceHealth has agreed to fully fund an OB social worker while the county will fund an OB community health worker for two years; both positions are intended to increase prenatal and perinatal support and help connect people to care. Sarah said staff expect to bring the funding package to the county council within roughly six weeks.
Task force members asked about a recent external presentation to the business community by someone identified in the meeting as Heather Powell. Members said that presentation omitted some statutory and procedural context about how the Healthy Children’s Fund must be used; staff responded that they had prior notice of the talk and plan to present to council and the Business & Commerce Committee to clarify processes and contracting requirements.
Task force members asked staff to include providers who have applied for RFPs when they speak to council so the council hears perspectives from those with direct contracting experience. Sarah said AidKit, a vendor helping with the subsidy, is finalizing details and that, once the contract is signed, the provider can begin distributing payments quickly — staff said the vendor estimated a 60-day turnaround to start distributing funds after a signed contract.
The task force also heard that evaluators are finalizing data dashboards for the Healthy Children’s Fund website, which launched shortly after the last task force meeting. Sarah said members will receive a more detailed update on subsidy design and implementation at the task force’s next meeting.
The meeting ended with staff saying they will continue to refine subsidy parameters and share implementation timelines at upcoming meetings.
