CMS recently announced $49.4 million in outreach grants available to connect eligible children and parents to Medicaid and CHIP coverage, and for the first time, specifically included outreach to pregnant people as one of the target groups. This is an important step, both for reaching eligible but uninsured pregnant people, and for facilitating access to coverage for newborns.
The agency explains that doing direct outreach, enrollment assistance, and coverage renewal support to pregnant people will help ensure that eligible children are enrolled too, because infants born to individuals covered by Medicaid for pregnancy are automatically deemed eligible for Medicaid for one year, without further application.
A wide range of organizations, including state/local governments, tribal entities, safety net providers, nonprofits, schools, and organizations that use community health workers, community-based doula programs, or parent mentors to provide care, may apply for up to $1.5 million over three years to connect eligible people to Medicaid or CHIP under the new CMS funding opportunity.
As my colleague Tricia Brooks wrote in a recent blog, a total of $49.4 million in funding will build on efforts initiated by the 2009 CHIP Reauthorization Act (CHIPRA) when Congress began to commit ongoing funding to boost outreach and enrollment efforts. Since CHIPRA took effect, $216 million has been awarded to more than 294 community-based organizations, states, and local governments to support the enrollment and retention of eligible children in Medicaid and CHIP, according to the CMS announcement.
Sustained, continuous coverage during the perinatal period is critical to maternal and infant health. About 45 percent of people covered by Medicaid and CHIP for birth each year lose coverage at just 60 days postpartum, cutting off their access to care at a tenuous time and putting their children’s health at risk as well. Research shows that when parents have coverage, their children are more likely to have coverage too, which supports their healthy development.
Adding outreach, enrollment and retention support for pregnant people to the funding opportunity could be especially helpful in states that are extending postpartum Medicaid and CHIP coverage eligibility from 60 days to 12 months after the end of pregnancy. More than half the states have taken steps to implement this policy change, either through an 1115 waiver or through the new state plan amendment option that becomes available to states on April 1, 2022. To view your state’s current duration of postpartum coverage, visit our state data hub.
Outreach to pregnant people will also be critical as states are preparing to resume normal operations after the lifting of the continuous enrollment requirement tied to the COVID-19 public health emergency. As my colleagues recently warned in a report, the outcomes of this mass eligibility redetermination will vary by state, but the, “unique and unprecedented set of public policy circumstances create a grave risk for the stability of health coverage in the year ahead for millions of children and families.”
Outreach to pregnant people about their prenatal and postpartum coverage period, as well as notice to watch for improper dis-enrollments and steps to take to get re-enrolled, will be especially important to ensure that people can access the care they need during and after pregnancy, and their children can access the critical care they need in the year after birth.
You can find more information on this grant opportunity here, and register for an informational stakeholder webinar here. Proposals are due March 28, 2022.
Editor’s Note: This blog has been updated to add a reference to Johnson K. Missing Babies: Best Practices for Ensuring Continuous Enrollment in Medicaid and Access to EPSDT. Johnson Group Consulting, Inc. January, 2021.
