Strengthening Partnerships Between Child Welfare and Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs)

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Children and families involved with the child welfare system often face complex and interconnected health, behavioral, and social needs. Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) can play a critical role in meeting those needs by providing comprehensive, accessible, and affordable care — regardless of a family’s insurance status or ability to pay.

In this insightful conversation, Sellers Dorsey Senior Director of Child and Family Well-Being, Katie Renner Olse, and Consulting Director, Imani Lewis, explore:

  • What makes FQHCs uniquely positioned to serve vulnerable children and families
  • The range of health services available through FQHCs, including medical, behavioral health, substance use treatment, and care coordination
  • How child welfare agencies and system partners can collaborate with FQHCs to better support children and families
  • Opportunities for partnership, including referral agreements and care coordination protocols
Interested in exploring how your organization can partner with FQHCs? Contact us to learn more.
Imani Lewis
Imani Lewis
Director, Consulting
Katie Renner Olse
Katie Renner Olse
Katie Renner Olse’s impactful leadership in child and family well-being for both the public and private sector has left an indelible mark on communities across the country. Before joining Sellers Dorsey, Katie served as the CEO of the Texas Alliance of Child and Family Services (TACFS) where she supported the work of community organizations serving children and families in the child welfare system. There, she spearheaded critical initiatives and championed system reform efforts including oversight of the nation’s largest state network of child, youth, and family-serving provider organizations. Under her leadership, she launched the Texas Center of Child and Family Studies (TCCFS), which has become a model for supporting private child and youth-serving providers in other states and has grown to support hundreds of providers within the mental health, juvenile justice, and child welfare arena. Katie also served as the President of the National Organization of State Associations for Children (NOSAC) where she worked with top leaders in state child welfare, juvenile justice, and mental health associations. Prior to her experience at NOSAC, Katie served as Deputy Commissioner for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS), a state-based agency with over 12,000 employees responsible for protecting Texas children from abuse, neglect, and exploitation. DFPS operates five major programs including Child and Adult Protective Services, Child Protective Investigations, Prevention and Early Intervention, and Statewide Intake. Additionally, Katie was the Chief of Staff for the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (THHSC), an agency within the Texas Health and Human Services System that has hundreds of programs helping more than 7.5 million Texans each month live healthier lives. THHSC provides a wide range of services to Texans including assistance with aging, finances, food, mental health, substance use, and more. Before her tenure at THHSC, Katie was the Senior Policy Advisor to the Executive Commissioner for DFPS, and the former Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services.

Current Responsibility

Katie serves as Senior Director within the Firm’s National Consulting Practice. Katie utilizes her leadership experience across the full continuum of child and family well-being to offer innovative solutions to clients and increase impact on children and families nationwide. Her expertise resides at the intersection of child welfare and healthcare as she provides a wide range of insights to support clients including drivers of child protection involvement, community-based services and approaches to serving families, key state and federal child and family well-being initiatives, implementation of complex, cross-system initiatives, and more. She has a strong track record of forging, maintaining, and strengthening relationships with critical child welfare stakeholders including legislatures, providers, state associations, advocates, and public sector professionals. Her critical connections in this space help open doors for clients and support them in fulfilling their unique missions.

Education

    • Indiana University Bloomington
Imani Lewis
Imani Lewis
Prior to joining Sellers Dorsey, Imani held the role of Chief Strategy Officer at a prominent provider of community-based primary healthcare in Chicago, which operates a network of Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs). There, she spearheaded strategic initiatives focused on addressing health disparities, enhancing medical, dental, and social services, improving behavioral health outcomes, and meeting the nutritional needs of underserved populations. Imani brings extensive leadership experience in healthcare, spanning both provider and managed care organizations. Before her tenure at Sellers Dorsey, Imani also served as Vice President of Quality Improvement for Centene’s Illinois Health Plan, Meridian. In this capacity, she oversaw accreditation and regulatory processes, program management, and quality performance for over one million individuals across nine lines of business, including Medicaid, Medicare Advantage, Medicare Prescription Drug Plans, Medicare-Medicaid (MMP), Foster Care, and Health Insurance Marketplace products. Imani's career also includes leadership roles within the healthcare delivery system at major FQHCs and hospital systems in Illinois. In these positions, she demonstrated expertise in data strategy, clinical operations, practice transformation, and quality and process improvement.

Current Responsibility

As a Director within the National Consulting Practice, Imani provides strategic and tactical guidance to managed care organizations, provider led entities, solutions providers, community-based organizations, federal and state agencies, and other Medicaid stakeholders. She leverages her experience to support Sellers Dorsey’s clients with business development, health plan operations, clinical care management, healthcare policy, healthcare technology, quality improvement, and Medicaid revenue maximization to drive the firm’s goals of improving quality and access to care for Medicaid recipients.

Education

    • University of Illinois at Chicago, MPH, Health Policy and Administration
    • University of Illinois at Chicago, MHA, Healthcare Administration
    • Xavier University of Louisiana, BS, Biology

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