Outreach and education to Medicaid consumers over the phone has been a mainstay of AHS’ consumer relations efforts since 1986 and is utilized in the vast majority of our current contracts. Using advanced telephone systems and techniques, our telephone workers handle outreach, education, application assistance, and enrollment for a variety of health programs (enrollment broker, PCCM, EPSDT, SCHIP, and Medicaid consumer hotline efforts), comprehensive health assessments, care coordination, linkages with medical homes, complaints resolution, and even appointment scheduling and referral to needed services (such as disease management, transportation, dental care, child care, etc.).

Blending telecommunications and an intensive initial and ongoing training effort in effective phone usage, outreach, education and enrollment, a variety of health programs are conducted through our Helplines (so called because they function as virtual I&Rs, routing callers to needed transmedical services beyond our contract obligations).

In 2002, AHS was awarded a contract to by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS) to administer the State’s Medicaid Consumer Hotline. Making full use of the corporate skills acquired during decades of Call Center management, in this contract we provide, in essence, one-call entry-point access to a host of Medicaid and Medicaid-related services (the State of Ohio offers approximately 50 different Medicaid-related programs to its residents – ranging from pre-natal to long-term institutional care). The Medicaid Consumer Hotline has become recognized as the predominant “information clearinghouse” for callers regarding their Medicaid-related questions.
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