Rapid Assessment with Qualitative Telephone Interviews: Lessons from an Evaluation of California’s Healthy Families Program & Medi-Cal for Children

California’s Healthy Families/Medi-Cal for Children (HF/MCC) program provides low- and no-cost health insurance to low-income children. In December 1999 and January 2000, 72 community-based organizations (CBOs) were contracted by California’s Department of Health Services (DHS) to supply culturally appropriate HF/MCC outreach and enrollment services. This article describes the incorporation of a qualitative telephone interview component for rapid assessment purposes after the planned quantitative analysis of program records faltered in 2001 due to missing, invalid, and unreliable data. We describe the rapid interview protocol and discuss benefits and barriers. The protocol can serve as a model for others interested in using rapid qualitative telephone interviews within their own evaluation efforts.