California’s school health services and school-based health centers (SBHCs) are financed through a variety of sources. These sources include: reimbursement from public insurance programs and private health plans; local, state, and federal grants; philanthropic foundations; and in-kind contributions from schools districts and other partners.
Every SBHC does things differently, but many are sponsored by community health providers. Community health providers are knowledgeable about health-related funding opportunities and can help schools access critical dollars as they start or expand health services. Medical providers can bill public health insurance for medical and dental care. Mental health providers can sometimes get reimbursed for counseling services delivered to students who qualify for Medi-Cal. Many community health providers can also access health-related grant funding. So, many clinical services may be delivered at little to no cost to the school.
That said, even schools with strong health partners will likely want to provide some services that often can’t be funded by community health providers—e.g., case management, classroom-based health education, mentoring, after school programs, and teacher consultation. SBHCs will therefore need to look for other funding opportunities, including through education funding streams.
For additional information and tools on financing your school health services see:
The Center for Health and Health Care in Schools also offers useful financing resources:
