Health care reform efforts in the U.S. focus on preventing disease, reducing health care costs, and improving health outcomes. In the case of WIC an important strategy to achieve desired population health outcomes is ensuring effective and equitable bi-directional linkages for outreach, referral, and care are established between WIC, health care and safety net programs.
This report provides a brief overview of existing and proposed program linkages—also called “horizontal integration”— with particular focus on linking the WIC program with programs and organizations serving WIC-eligible families.