Module 1: Articulating the Need
Guidance for Starting a School-Based Clinic
Is your community seeking to open a school-based clinic? This is the first module covering how you should articulate the need for a school-based clinic.
We also offer a variety of expert consultation and facilitation services for communities exploring, starting, and operating clinics.
Meeting the Students Where They Are
Colorado Health Institute (CHI), 2024
This interactive tool offers needs assessment findings on the schools and school districts that would benefit the most from the addition of a school-based health clinic. Created in partnership with CHI, Youth Healthcare Alliance, and Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.
Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment & Youth Healthcare Alliance
Comprehensive needs assessment template to be used by planning sites and updated every five years. This needs assessment tool was created to help you understand your community’s assets and needs and provide quantitative data. The data can help identify the need for the school-based health center and the necessary services, enabling the development of strategies to create positive and sustainable improvements in community health.
Youth Healthcare Alliance
Parent, student, school staff, and community survey to assess current and potential patients' use of the clinic, their health needs, and marketing messages.
Messages to Use when Encountering Community Resistance
Youth Healthcare Alliance
It is natural for communities to raise questions concerning what school-based clinics offer. This document will give you the tools you need to enter into a dialogue with community members while utilizing evidence and Colorado law as support for your messages.
Community Engagement Tools
Community Data Tools
Health Center Program GeoCare Navigator
Health Resources & Services Administration
This interactive, web-based tool was designed to help assess the geographic reach of Health Center Program grantees and look-alikes to aid in clinic planning.
Diversity Data Kids
Resource of data sources that could be helpful in understanding your communities’ needs and opportunities.
Data about School-Based Healthcare
School-Based Health Centers and Pediatric Practice
American Academy of Pediatrics, 2021
Some pediatricians have concerns that school-based clinics conflict with the primary care provider’s medical home. This policy provides an overview of school-based clinics and documented benefits, addresses the issue of potential conflict with the medical home, and provides recommendations to support the integration and coordination of school-based clinics and the pediatric medical home practice.
Planning for a Clinic
How to begin planning fundamental components necessary to open a clinic, including:
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Workplan and business models
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Organizational chart
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Partnership development and community assessments
Setting up the Clinic
Tools to help with preparations for opening your new clinic, including:
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Registration, enrollment, and consent forms
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Facilities and floor plan samples
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Job descriptions and budget templates