It bears repeating: The first three years of a child’s life shape the rest. During that short time period, babies and toddlers form more than one million new neural connections every second. Their positive development depends on nurturing relationships and environments that promote health and learning. When they don’t get what their brains need to thrive—especially […]
Introduction As our nation reaches historic levels of health coverage for children, there is increased interest in further ensuring access to the care needed for children to reach their full potential. Years of research have confirmed the critical importance of the earliest years of a child’s development. The first months and years of a child’s […]
Those of us in child health policy are familiar with the argument that coverage is important to children to ensure preventive care that can catch and address disease and delays early before they become larger hurdles. But once kids are covered, unpacking how and whether that preventive care is achieved, and defining the steps, policy […]
As early childhood policymakers and advocates, we know that early relationships matter – a lot. We know that babies’ earliest relationships and experiences shape the architecture of the brain. Babies who engage with responsive, consistent and nurturing caregivers are more likely to have strong emotional health, or, infant and early childhood mental health (IECMH). Most […]
State voluntary reporting for FY 2016 of the Child Core Set of Health Care Quality Measures is now available on Medicaid.gov. As it has done for the past two cycles, CMS provides a helpful downloadable dataset of state reporting. Fifty states reported at least one measure, with 45 reporting at least half of the 26 […]
In August, New York State convened a “First 1,000 Days” on Medicaid initiative, to generate recommendations to improve health for young children covered by Medicaid – with explicit interest in outcomes that are long-term and cross-sector, extending beyond health and medical issues. I am helping to lead this effort, which involves dozens of leaders and […]
