Community Health Access & Navigation

Community Health Access & Navigation is a care coordination program provided through local health departments to help families and individuals with enhanced patient-centered care engagement, assist with navigating complex systems, and support medical and social service needs.

About Community Health Access and Navigation in Tennessee

The Community  Health Access and Navigtation program is an integrated model of care coordination provided through the local health departments. The program provides enhanced patient-centered engagement, assistance with navigating complex systems, and care coordination of medical and social service needs. Families and individuals are connected to available resources which may include reimbursement for medical services and assistance with co-pays, deductibles, and co-insurance for children and youth with physical disabilities.

Goals for the program include increasing Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic, and Treatment rates, medical and dental home access, pregnancy, birth, maternal and child outcomes, and positively impact overall outcomes related to social determinants of health. 

Who is eligible?

Individuals eligible for the program include:

  • Pregnant and postpartum adolescents and women
  • Children (Birth - 21 years)
  • Children and Youth with Special Healthcare Needs (Birth - 21 years)

The CHANT program is located in each of the 95 Tennessee County Health Departments. Referrals are accepted from all medical providers and social service agencies.  Self-referrals to CHANT are also accepted. The CHANT referral form may be accessed here. 

For more information on the CHANT program, please contact Kristen T. Gentry at kristen.t.gentry@tn.gov or call 615-979-5297.

Office Contacts

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For Providers

If you’re a provider with a family that may benefit from the CHANT care coordination program, a referral may be made using this form.

Comprehensive screening and assessments - Each member of the family unit is screened for the following:

  • Behavioral Health
  • Child Health and Development Education
  • Children and Youth with Special Health Care Needs (CYSHCN)
  • Dental Home/Referral
  • Developmental Screening/ Referral
  • Employment
  • Family Planning
  • Health Insurance
  • Housing
  • Immunization Screening/ Referral
  • Maternal Loss
  • Medical Home/Referral
  • Pregnancy/ Postpartum
  • Perinatal Loss
  • Smoking Cessation
  • Social Service Referral
  • Transition of CYSHCN 14+ yrs.

TennCare Insurance

For Families

If you are pregnant, or a parent or caregiver of a young child and are interested in receiving services through the CHANT care coordination program, please contact your Regional or Metro Health Department.

  • Links patients and families with resources to facilitate referrals and respond to medical and social service needs,
  • Communicates care plans and goals and proactively track patients as they go to and from clinical care to communities, and
  • Identifies and refers  eligible high-risk patients to available EBHV Programs

Advancing Health Equity: A Guide to Language, Narrative and Concepts (PDF) refers to social determinants of health (or SDOH) as the underlying community-wide social, economic and physical conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age.  Social determinants of health are not experienced equally by people and are often inextricably linked to each other.

For example, education and access to transportation can impact employment opportunities, and one’s neighborhood location can impact access to healthy food options. These determinants and their unequal distribution according to social position result in differences in health status between population groups that are avoidable and unfair. The profound impact of SDOH can persist across generations and drive health inequity based on race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. 

The CHANT Screening and Assessment screens families for these underlying contributors to multiple social and socio-economic conditions of their homes and communities.

Each member of the family unit is screened for the following:

  • Social services needs
  • Mental /behavioral health risk
  • Child health and development milestones
  • Special health care needs
  • Medical risk
  • Health insurance
  • Medical and dental services

Families trigger Pathways based on the Screening and Assessment results. Care Coordinators educate, refer and follow-up on resources and services and assist families to navigate the Pathways.  Families will remain on pathways until all action steps are complete or at the point where families disengage with care coordination.  The pathways of care include the following:

  • Behavioral Health
  • Child Health and Development Education
  • Children and Youth with Special Health  Care Needs (CYSHCN)
  • Dental Home/Referral
  • Developmental Screening/ Referral
  • Employment
  • Family Planning
  • Health Insurance
  • Housing
  • Immunization Screening/ Referral
  • Maternal Loss
  • Medical Home/Referral
  • Pregnancy/ Postpartum
  • Perinatal Loss
  • Smoking Cessation
  • Social Service Referral
  • Transition of CYSHCN 14+ yrs.

TennCare is the state of Tennessee’s managed Medicaid agency. The program serves more than 1.7 million Tennesseans including low-income individuals such as pregnant women, children, caretaker relatives of young children and older adults and adults with disabilities. TennCare’s mission is to improve lives through high-quality, cost-effective care to support the vision of a healthier Tennessee. 

To apply for TennCare go to https://tenncareconnect.tn.gov or call 855-259-0701

Child Health and Development (CHAD)

The Child Health and Development Program is a home-based prevention/intervention program that has been in existence for over 40 years. The program is designed to support parents by providing child development and parenting education. CHAD services are provided to children who are at risk of abuse and neglect, at risk of developmental delay or have an identified delay.

The program serves 22 counties of the East and Northeast Tennessee regions.

Eligibility Requirements:

Families receiving CHAD services must either meet a financial requirement or have been involved with the Child Protective Services system. Prenatal services are provided only for pregnant girls who are younger than 18 years of age.

Contact your local health department. 

Program Referral for Community Health Access & Navigation (CHANT)


This Page Last Updated: March 26, 2026 at 4:31 PM