Washington State's Fostering Well-Being Program: Impacts on Medical Utilization

Since 2010, Washington State’s Fostering Well-Being (FWB) Program has provided care coordination and other services to children in out-of-home placement to enhance their access to comprehensive health care and to improve health outcomes. This report examines the characteristics of the children served by the FWB program in its first two years and uses a statistically matched comparison group to assess the program’s impacts on medical utilization. Results show that many FWB recipients have complex chronic needs. After one year in the program, FWB recipients experienced dramatically reduced medical utilization, including fewer emergency room visits and other hospitalizations. These reductions were similar in magnitude to those experienced by other medically complex children in out-of-home placement who were not served by the FWB program.