Early Childhood
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Report Recommends a New Child-Centered Approach to Value-Based Payment in Medicaid
By Kate Breslin, Schuyler Center for Analysis and Advocacy and Andrea G. Cohen, United Hospital Fund As part of its Delivery System Reform Incentive Payment (DSRIP) waiver, New York Medicaid has set an ambitious goal to rapidly implement value-based payment across 80 percent of managed care payments by 2020. For all of the challenges associated with this huge…
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Recommended Changes to the 2017 Child Core Set of Health Care Quality Measures
As I noted in a blog last year, CMS reviews the Child Core Set of Health Care Quality Measures annually. Advising CMS’ quality activities is the Measure Applications Partnership (MAP), a public-private partnership convened by the National Quality Forum (NQF), a not-for-profit, nonpartisan, membership-based organization that works to catalyze improvements in health care. MAP is…
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New Resource from CLASP Highlight Innovations to Address Maternal Depression
Low-income mothers of young children have high rates of untreated depression due in large part to the lack of affordable health coverage and lack of access to mental health care. Untreated maternal depression can be damaging to a child’s cognitive, social, and emotional development. The ACA offers new routes to finance and systematize maternal depression…
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Infant-Early Childhood Mental Health Matters
By Cindy Oser, ZERO TO THREE Last month, ZERO TO THREE and Manatt Health produced a policy brief and webinar highlighting the steps states should take to ensure resources to support infant and early childhood mental health (I-ECMH) are in place and working. Why? Because early investments in mental health will yield big outcomes for…
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CCF Releases First in Series of Briefs on the Future of Children’s Health Coverage
Having concrete policy ideas may not be in vogue on the campaign trail, but here at CCF we are grateful to have the opportunity and challenge to think deeply about the future of health coverage for children and families. Today we are launching a new series of reports and briefs on the future of children’s…
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The Future of Children’s Health Coverage: Children in the Marketplace
Summary This paper addresses changes needed to improve the ability of Marketplace coverage to meet children’s needs. As the paper notes, relatively few children (approximately one million) receive their coverage through the Marketplace; most in public coverage are served through Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program. As a new source of coverage, and one…
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New CMS Guidance Highlights Policy Options for Screening and Treating Maternal Depression
By Stephanie Schmit and Christina Walker, Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released an Informational Bulletin (IB) highlighting the critical role Medicaid can play in supporting state policy choices to promote young children’s healthy development through maternal depression screening and treatment. The guidance in the…
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Recent Changes to the Free Care Rule Put Federal Funds Back on the Table
The so-called “Free Care Rule” prevented states from receiving federal Medicaid funds to provide any service that is ordinarily provided for free to the community at large, even if Medicaid would cover these services for its beneficiaries. For instance, if a public school nurse were to examine a student, federal funds could not be used…
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Improving Early Developmental Screenings for Ohio’s Kids: A Lesson in Collaboration
By Brandi Slaughter, Interim CEO, Voices for Ohio’s Children We all want what’s best for our children – whether they are our patients, our students, our neighbors or our own kids. This shared commitment to the health and well-being of Ohio’s future leaders drove our recent work in Ohio to establish Early Periodic Screening Diagnosis and…
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Child and Parent Health Issues Can Lead to Chronic Absenteeism & Impact Student Success
Editor’s Note: Yesterday we published the first half of our interview with Hedy Chang of Attendance Works. She explained how child and parent health issues can become a barrier to school attendance and future success. Today we conclude the interview. Q: Many of the health barriers to attendance that your report mentions are preventable and/or treatable…
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School Attendance and Health Care: Why Chronic Absenteeism Isn’t Just About Truancy
Editor’s Note: This is part 1 of a two-part conversation with Attendance Works Director Hedy Chang. Chang spoke to us about the critical role health care can play in closing the attendance gap. Attendance Works is a national initiative aimed at advancing student success by removing barriers and encouraging children to attend school regularly. A report Attendance Works…
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Victory in Washington State: Medicaid Developmental Screens
By Jon Gould, Children’s Alliance of Washington Developmental screens are some of the biggest cost-savers in the field of health; early detection in primary care pays off in preventive measures in the months and years ahead. Yet the 46 percent of the state’s children covered by Apple Health for Kids, who often suffer the worst…
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Medicaid Provides an Excellent Long-Term Return on Investment
By Alisa Chester and Joan Alker As our nation marks Medicaid’s 50th anniversary of service to the nation this week, it’s a good time to reflect on how this federal-state partnership program is making a difference – especially for children and families. As has been widely discussed, Medicaid has been instrumental to our nation’s historic…
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Medicaid at 50: A Look at the Long-Term Benefits of Childhood Medicaid
An emerging body of research underscores the significant role that Medicaid plays as a source of health coverage and financial protection for children and families—the benefits of which last through adulthood. New data highlight striking examples of the long-term effects of Medicaid—including better health, lower rates of mortality, better educational and economic outcomes, and many…
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New Study Documents Positive Long-Term Effects of Medicaid Coverage
A new study from the University of Wisconsin’s Institute for Research on Poverty provides further evidence that the Medicaid expansions in the 1980s and 1990s have positive long-term effects for children. The IRP study, conducted by researchers from the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies, found that expanding Medicaid eligibility for pregnant women improves…
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NBER Report: Childhood Medicaid Coverage Leads to Better Health Outcomes
A new study joins a growing body of literature that sheds light on the long-term benefits and cost savings of expanding access to public health insurance. In “Childhood Medicaid Coverage and Later Life Health Care Utilization,” a working paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), the authors conclude that expanding Medicaid eligibility…
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The Importance of Medicaid Expansion to Improve Children’s Health Insurance Rates
By Alisa Chester and Sarah Koslov This week, two important studies confirmed our understanding that improving access to Medicaid and CHIP for children is a financially sound public investment that not only leads to greater health coverage rates but also results in increased college attendance, lower mortality rates, and higher earned wages. Together, the research…
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A Two-Generation Approach to Behavioral Health Helps Children and Parents in North Carolina
By Sophia Duong Research has shown that parents’ behavioral health significantly impacts their children’s development, but for many low-income parents it is difficult to seek behavioral health treatment without health coverage. My home state of North Carolina recognizes the connection between parent and child health, and provides a child-parent treatment approach through Medicaid. In North…
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OIG Report: States, Feds Must Do More to Ensure Kids on Medicaid Get Essential Screenings
By Sean Miskell The Medicaid program includes screening requirements intended to ensure that any developmental or medical issues children encounter are identified and addressed by health care providers. However, a new report from a federal watchdog finds that both the states and the federal government must do more to guarantee that children are receiving these…
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Healthy Lives Require Early Investments in Both Children and Parents
By Sean Miskell “The earliest years of our lives set us on paths leading toward – or away from – good health.” — RWJF Commission to Build a Healthier America Evidence increasingly shows that the experiences children have when they are young have a lasting impact on their lifelong health and well-being. A new issue…
