12 - Online WIC Application Development & Deployment in Pediatric Primary Care

Publication Number: 3011.12

Chidiogo Anyigbo, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, United States; Holly Griffin, Children's Hospital, Cincinnati, OH, United States; Jacquana L. Smith, University of Cincinnati, Baltimore, MD, United States; Jamie Hardy-Besaw, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, United States; Taylor Gates, University of Cincinnati, Wauwatosa, WI, United States; Mawuli Kwami. Ankou, Louisiana State University, BATON ROUGE, LA, United States; Reid Bradley, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH, United States; Lauren Lipps, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, United States; Michelle C. Gorecki, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, United States; Kopila Dhakal, University of Cincinnati, Monroe, OH, United States; Sarah J. Beal, Cincinnati Children's Hospital, Cincinnati, OH, United States; Cathleen Stough, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, United States

Background: The Special Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) helps reduce food insecurity and improves early childhood outcomes, but less than half of eligible families are enrolled.

Objective: To address this, an online WIC application was developed in collaboration with our local and state WIC agency, replacing a paper-based process.

Design/Methods: The application, available in English, Spanish, Nepali, and French, connects applicants to the local WIC agency and allows users to upload verification documents (a task traditionally completed during an in-person) and provide preferred contact information for appointment scheduling. Developed through a community-engaged approach with input from families, WIC staff, and PC professionals, the pilot was launched in five pediatric PC settings after establishing legal and privacy policies with the state and local WIC agency.

Results: In the pilot’s first 6 months, the online application was accessed 156 times with 45.5% (71/156) completed applications (Figure 1). Most families completed the application in English and preferred for WIC staff to contact them via texting (Table 2).

WIC staff were able to contact and schedule appointments for 57.7% (41/71) of families who completed applications. Ultimately, 46.5% (33/71) of families with completed applications were successfully enrolled in WIC Among those with appointments scheduled, enrollment rates rose to 80% (33/41; Figure 1). The top 2 reasons for families completing an application but ultimately not enrolled in WIC were: non-response to outreach attempts to schedule an enrollment appointment (44.7%,17/38) and not attending scheduled enrollment appointments (21%, 8/38). A combined 68% (58/85) of incomplete applications were abandoned on the initial page

Conclusion(s): To our knowledge this is the first project to follow the process of WIC enrollment for pediatric patients from application initiation to completion of enrollment. These initial results are guiding next steps in developing interventions (Figure 2) to improve data sharing and coordination between pediatric primary care and WIC which can further close WIC enrollment gaps, especially for families experiencing food insecurity.

Figure 1: Flowsheet of Online WIC Application Initiation to WIC Enrollment
Figure 1.pdf

Table 1: Key Features of the Completed Application (N= 71)
Table 1.pdf

Figure 2: WIC Application Initiation to WIC Enrollment Dropoff & Proposed Interventions
Figure 2.pdf