Screening

A written procedure guides the completion of the OhioKAN eligibility screening. The goal of this screening is to ensure eligible families move from initial inquiry or referral to enrollment in the OhioKAN program. Families interested in OhioKAN must meet specified eligibility criteria as defined in Ohio administrative rule 5101:2-40-10.

OhioKAN staff respond to interested individuals with a warm empathetic tone and the practices established in the OhioKAN Navigator Practice Profile. To reduce barriers to access and build trust, the tone of the screening conversation should be informal. The OhioKAN staff member will begin the conversation with active listening, allowing the person to express the reason for their call, then verbally summarizing and checking back with the person to ensure the initial reason for the call is clearly understood. Over the course of this conversation, OhioKAN staff will listen and document why the person called, members of the household, contact information and any other relevant information in the data system. The primary purpose of this initial conversation is to build rapport, collect basic information about the caller and the people who live in their home, and learn enough about the family to establish eligibility.

Once eligibility has been established the service episode should be screened in the data system. Then the conversation should move immediately to Opening an OhioKAN Service Episode. If a family is not eligible, the OhioKAN staff can assist the family by providing basic information to direct the family to the appropriate services or refer the family to 211. These cases should be screened out in the data system rather than screened in.