School-Based Health Alliance

The Alliance’s goal is to create an interdisciplinary home for the thousands of school-based health care providers, administrators and supporters who work in this unique practice setting. With the contributions of school health care leaders, we have created a central repository representing the field’s best practices, state-of-the-art tools and resources, descriptive data, and world-class continuing education and training. Our two premier activities, the National School-Based Health Care Census and our annual National Convention, connect thousands of school-based health leaders with peers and data that support them in advancing SBHCs. We help communities operationalize the commonsense idea that health is determined in great part by where young people live, learn, and grow. Through public policy advocacy, research, and technical support, the organization has contributed to doubling the number of SBHCs across the country, creating unprecedented access to medical, behavioral, oral, and vision health care for the 6.3 million youth with access it SBHCs who might otherwise go without.

The Alliance works collaboratively with its members to provide the data, training, resources and tools, and advocacy that are needed to strengthen and expand SBHCs. The Alliance’s multidisciplinary membership includes nurses, educators, school staff and administrators, school board members, physicians, mental health providers, health centers, state adolescent health coordinators, and researchers. Organizational members include hospitals, foundations, federal, state, and local public health agencies, schools, and health systems.
• Data: The Alliance tracks and analyzes key issues and challenges for the SBHC field and conducts and publishes the triennial National School-Based Health Care Census. The Alliance also surveys and issues a report summarizing state public health and Medicaid offices to assess state-level public policies and activities that promote the growth and sustainability of SBHSs.
• Training: The Alliance has methodically built a first-class national training system that is directly responsive to a field of more than 2,500 SBHCs. We communicate regularly with more than 7,000 community and school-based primary care and mental health professionals from across the country. Partnerships with our established and emerging state affiliates, state SBHC program offices, and primary care associations (state and regional) form the cornerstone of our nationwide training and TA system. We communicate through monthly state leader calls and webinars, quarterly newsletters and networking meetings with state program offices. We have led the development and implementation of child-centered performance standards, which serve as a distinct benchmarking system for quality assurance, productivity, and cost. Our annual national convention is the premier continuing education experience for SBHCs. The Alliance staff and volunteer leaders have the broad expertise to respond to the field’s developmental needs, from improving the quality of student needs assessments to demonstrating the value of the SBHS.
• Resources and Tools: The Alliance has numerous resources and tools to support SBHCs. Our toolkits, fact sheets, white papers, and promising practices from our initiatives cover extensive topics including SBHC planning and start-up, business practices and operations, quality improvement strategies, creating cultures of wellness within schools, and specific child and adolescent clinical issues.
• Advocacy: The Alliance works collaboratively at local, state, and national levels to advocate for support and resources for SBHCs.

History and Staff: The School Based Health Alliance (the Alliance), founded in 1995, serves as the national voice for a transformative health care model--school-based health care--that has helped to reshape our nation’s and our communities’ response to vulnerable children and adolescents. Our staff bring decades of combined expertise.

Scope: The Alliance focuses on these priority areas: 1) supporting high quality SBHC practices; 2) expanding and strengthening the SBHS movement; and 3) advocating for policies that sustain and grow SBHSs. The Alliance’s multidisciplinary membership includes nurses, educators, school staff and administrators, school board members, physicians, mental health providers, health centers, state adolescent health coordinators, and researchers. Organizational members include hospitals, foundations, federal, state, and local public health agencies, schools, Native American health services, and health systems.

The Alliance has methodically built a first-class national training system that is directly responsive to a field of more than 2,500 SBHCs. We communicate regularly with more than 10,000 community and school-based primary care and mental health professionals from across the country. Partnerships with our 29 established and emerging state affiliates, 19 state SBHC program offices, and 59 primary care associations (state and regional) form the cornerstone of our nationwide training and technical assistance system. We communicate through monthly state leader calls and webinars, quarterly newsletters and networking meetings with state program offices. We have led the development and implementation of child-centered performance standards, which serve as a distinct benchmarking system for quality assurance, productivity, and cost. Our national convention is the premier continuing education experience for SBHS. The Alliance staff and volunteer leaders have the broad expertise to respond to the field’s developmental needs, from improving the quality of student needs assessments to demonstrating the value of the SBHS.

The Alliance tracks and analyzes key issues and challenges for the SBHS field and conducts and publishes the National School-Based Health Care Census. The Alliance surveys and issues a report summarizing state public health and Medicaid offices to assess state-level public policies and activities that promote the growth and sustainability of SBHSs. The Alliance has created numerous tools to help SBHS organizations assess, improve, and report on their financial status, including a sustainability self-assessment tool, pro-forma financial statement, cost survey, and SBHC Report Card, all of which allow SBHCs to communicate their business model and create a snapshot of their business practices.

The nations 2,500+ SBHCs provided access to 6,344,907 students (13% of school-aged youth in U.S. public schools) in 10,629 schools (approximately 10% of U.S. public schools).

Through public policy advocacy, research, and technical support, the organization has contributed to doubling the number of SBHCs across the country, creating unprecedented access to medical, behavioral, oral, and vision health care for underserved youth with access it SBHCs who might otherwise go without. Our goal is to increase the number of SBHCs and students with access to them.