Collaborative for Attendance Resources in Education and Health (CARE-H)

The Collaborative for Attendance Resources in Education and Health (CARE-H) combines the efforts of the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS), Children’s National, and parents/caregivers to support school attendance, encourage positive health/social outcomes and support academic success. The CARE-H project was developed to strengthen the connections between healthcare providers and educators by providing training and using cross-sector data sharing to engage the health system in addressing absenteeism. Receiving this monthly data helps healthcare teams identify students who are behind on well-child visits and identify those who need extra support to address chronic health concerns posing a barrier to school attendance.

How Does the CARE-H Project Help Students?

After extensive information gathering and establishing a pilot design, the CARE-H pilot was successfully launched in 2019. With the support of a four-year grant from the United Health Foundation, and in partnership with DCPS and other organizations, CARE-H was successfully launched in 14 schools to start. Here’s how it works:

1. Families complete a consent form to sign up and turn it into their school registrar via online registration packet or printed consent.
2. After consents are entered into the database, DCPS will securely share attendance information with the student’s medical provider.
3. Healthcare providers will provide special outreach to students missing school and their families.

The healthcare team receives monthly school attendance data from the CRISP Health Information Exchange System that indicates all students who are consented to CARE-H. The team is provided information about their absences for the month and for the school year to date. This monthly data helps structure the work done by the outreach team. Beginning in the 2023-2024 school year, CARE-H has expanded to all DCPS schools. This expansion aims to reach more students and families who may need extra support in addressing health and/or social barriers to school attendance.

If you are a provider or health system looking to learn more about CARE-H processes and outcomes, here are a few helpful links: 

• Rx for Absenteeism
• CARE-H Playbook
• Fact Sheet for Providers
• Fact Sheet for Educators