Investing in Early Childhood: Partnerships to Implement Home Visiting Programs

According to the Institute of Medicine, premature births cost the U.S. $26 billion each year and represent 35 percent of total U.S. spending on health care for infants. Three randomized controlled trials (RCT) have shown that adopting the Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP) model, a home visiting program connecting low-income first-time parents and their children with registered nurses, reduces the incidence of premature births and provides significant benefits for children and parents.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act recognized the importance of and potential for home visiting programs to reduce health care spending and increase the return on investment of federal health dollars by establishing a $1.5 billion federal grant program for state-based home visiting programs. Private health foundations, cognizant of the importance of leveraging both public and private resources to improve the health and well being of mothers and babies, are also making significant contributions to home visiting programs such as NFP.

This webinar brought together public and private sector stakeholders that explored how partnering to invest in early childhood reaps benefits for children and families and will ultimately benefit all of society.

Sponsored by a grant from the Maternal and Child Health Bureau of the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration.