Its website also includes an online “WIC Interest Form” for applicants to submit demographic information and a request for a WIC clinic in their area to contact them. Oregon WIC connects applicants to the USDA Food and Nutrition Service WIC Pre-screening tool.To develop more user-friendly tools, WIC agencies can apply the principles of human-centered design, such as including the future users of a tool at every step of design: understanding who users are, identifying what problems are being addressed, brainstorming and modelling solutions, and testing the new tool during development and before implementation. Digital tools that are linked to WIC information systems make the process easier for staff.Ĭlear procedures for timely WIC staff follow-up and monitoring of the status of requests or applications are essential to providing strong customer service and effectively enrolling families in WIC. Digital tools that enable WIC staff to move the certification forward make the process easier for applicants. Outreach messages that include a link to an online tool allow recipients to take immediate action to enroll in WIC. They can also make the process easier for WIC staff.ĭigital tools like smartphone apps, mobile-friendly online portals, and text messaging can make it easier for families to express interest in WIC, schedule an enrollment appointment, or provide information necessary for certification. One-third of mothers reported barriers to follow-up.Ĭollaborating with WIC to provide targeted follow-up for newborn hearing screening improved loss to follow-up rates, decreased the age at hearing confirmation by 1 month, and addressed reported care barriers.Ĭopyright © 2016 by the American Academy of Pediatrics.Digital tools can make it easier for families to express interest in WIC and get certified for WIC. The average age of hearing confirmation for the WIC intervention group was 34.8 days, compared with 63.6 days in non-WIC infants. Among WIC-eligible intervention infants, the lost to follow-up rate over 2 years was 9.6%, compared with 28.7% for nonintervention infants in the same hospitals and 18.1% for nonintervention hospitals. Of these, 260 WIC-eligible infants were referred to the study. Loss to follow-up rates and age at follow-up were compared with non-WIC infants tracked via the Ohio Department of Health during the same time periods at the same hospitals and at nonintervention hospitals.ĭuring a 2-year period, there were 1493 hearing screen referrals at 6 hospitals in the Cincinnati region recorded by the Ohio Department of Health. Hearing rescreens were performed by using screening auditory brainstem response testing by trained research assistants, coordinated with the infant's WIC appointment. This study tested an intervention of targeted outpatient rescreening of infants through collaboration with the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program to improve follow-up rates for newborn hearing screen referrals.Ĭontrolled intervention study of WIC-eligible infants who referred on newborn hearing screens at target hospitals. Newborn hearing screening has a high participation rate of ∼97% of infants nationally, but a high lost to follow-up of ∼32% limits the effectiveness of the program.