# Examining School-Based Health Centers as Vehicles for Health Equity among Chronically Absent Students

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES · 2024 · $668,249

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Children with chronic absenteeism, defined as missing 10% or more school days, make up 13%-16% of public
school students and are disproportionately from marginalized populations such as low-income, non-English
speaking, Black, Latinx, and students with disabilities. Chronically absent students experience more chronic
illnesses, like asthma and obesity; are more likely to have behavioral health problems like depression and
substance use; and are less likely to graduate from high school, which is a key social determinant of lifelong
morbidity and mortality. school-based health centers (SBHCs) may improve health equity for students with
chronic absenteeism by reducing barriers to accessing care, addressing the specific health conditions
associated with chronic absenteeism, avoiding the need to miss school to access healthcare and ultimately
improving academic outcomes like attendance, grade point average, and graduation rates. However, few
studies characterize healthcare utilization and diagnoses for students with chronic absenteeism, or whether
SBHC use increases primary care utilization, reduces emergency and inpatient care, and improves academic
outcomes. We propose a 5-year study to determine whether SBHCs improve healthcare utilization and
academic outcomes for students with chronic absenteeism. We capitalize on unique partnerships in Los
Angeles with one of the largest managed care organizations (Kaiser Permanente Southern California, KPSC),
Medicaid insurance plans (LA Care), and the 2nd-largest school district in the nation (LAUSD), serving
~500,000 students a year. We propose to A) link electronic health and billing data from community clinics,
managed care organizations, and 25 SBHCs in LAUSD with school district demographic and academic
measures from 2015-2025. Using this unique dataset, we will B) identify children with different patterns of
chronic absenteeism and characterize their diagnoses and C) healthcare utilization, so that we can better
identify pediatric populations at high-risk for unmet health needs and tailor health services, such as SBHCs, to
meet their needs. We will then D) test whether students in high absenteeism classes who access SBHCs have
reduced emergency department visits (primary outcome) and hospitalizations, increased utilization of primary
care, and improved academic performance (attendance, grade point average, and graduation rates) compared
to a propensity weighted sample of chronically absent students who access community clinics or a managed
care organization alone. Finally, we will use the results of our analyses to engage students with chronic
absenteeism in a human centered design process to identify and prototype SBHC interventions, including the
expansion of or integration of SBHCs with other health systems, to improve care for children with chronic
absenteeism. This study examines whether SBHCs can improve health equity for an important marginalized
population and is aligned ...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10881534
- **Project number:** 1R01MD018634-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES
- **Principal Investigator:** PAUL J CHUNG
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $668,249
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-06-24 → 2029-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10881534

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10881534, Examining School-Based Health Centers as Vehicles for Health Equity among Chronically Absent Students (1R01MD018634-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10881534. Licensed CC0.

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