Quality & Access to Care
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Promoting Young Children’s Healthy Development in Medicaid and CHIP
Summary A child’s brain develops most rapidly in the earliest years of life, building the foundation for learning, behavior and health. Medicaid—as the primary source of health coverage for young, low-income children— is a logical system to reach families with young children and set them on a path of healthy physical, social, and emotional development.…
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The Trump Administration’s Association Health Plans Emerge: What Early Announcements Tell Us About this New Market
This past summer, the Department of Labor (DOL) finalized a regulation calling for the expansion of association health plans (AHPs) for small businesses and self-employed individuals. AHPs are insurance policies offered through an association, often to members within a specific trade, industry, or profession. Among other changes, DOL’s rule loosened the requirements under which a group of employers…
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New Podcast Spotlights Barriers to Health Care for Georgia’s Children
Voices for Georgia’s Children has launched an inaugural podcast series — Challenges for Children – focused on barriers to health care for children. In April 2018, the Voices for Georgia’s Children team set out to find out why so many of their state’s children were being left behind. Team members traveled to Whitfield, Dougherty, Effingham,…
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Exciting News: CMS Announces First Innovation Model Grants Aimed at Children and Youth
CMS has announced that it will launch a new innovation model funding opportunity this fall as part of a multi-prong response to the opioid crisis. The Integrated Care for Kids (InCK) Model aims to reduce expenditures and improve the quality of care for children under 21 years of age covered by Medicaid and the Children’s…
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Perry County to Tuscaloosa: A 70-Minute Drive for Rural Women Seeking Obstetrics Care
I have driven the 57 miles from Perry County, Alabama to Tuscaloosa many times, with long stretches of bumpy road that is marred by stop lights as you get closer to the city. All in all it’s about a 70-minute drive, a 70-minute drive residents of Perry County have to make if they need to…
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Medicaid Scorecard Misses the Mark on State and Federal Accountability
With a lot of fanfare but not much input from experts and stakeholders, CMS revealed its new “Medicaid scorecard” that received mixed reviews this week. CMS Administrator Seema Verma’s reluctance to talk about how the scorecard may be used in the future added suspense to speculation about the potential for CMS to use the tool…
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Proposed Changes to Medicaid Access Rule Would Undermine Access to Care
CMS published proposed changes to the Medicaid Access Rule in the Federal Register on March 23 that would have a far-reaching impact on Medicaid beneficiaries and providers. Now that we’ve had time to analyze how the proposed changes would impact children, families and others who rely on Medicaid to meet their health care needs, we…
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How to Make Proper Payments to Out-of-State Providers for Medicaid Children with Special Health Care Needs
As readers of Say Ahhh! Blog know, Medicaid covers over 35 million children, more than any other health insurer. And as readers also know, Medicaid does not exclude children with pre-existing conditions. In fact, having a disability is one pathway to Medicaid eligibility for a child. As a result, an estimated 2 million “medically complex” children…
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Advocates Can Play Important Role in Addressing the Social Determinants of Health for Children
While the research is settled that social determinants – the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, and age – play an important role in health, the related policies are still in development. Addressing the social determinants of health (SDOH) could help bend the cost curve and improve care – the goal of…
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Reporting on FY 2016 Child Core Set Includes Key Developmental Screening Measure
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…
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Research Update: Health Care in Rural and Urban America
CCF is starting a new series on research in health policy. I will regularly highlight some of the new research that I have been reading. This week, I am reading studies comparing health care and poverty in rural and urban parts of the country. AHRQ’s National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Report: Chartbook on Rural Health…
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New Pediatric Quality Core Measure Set Released by Collaborative of Public and Private Payers
About a year and a half ago, CMS, commercial health plans, Medicare and Medicaid managed care plans, purchasers, physician and other health-related professional groups, and consumers teamed up to reach consensus on core quality measures that would be reported across payers in the public and private sectors. The initiative, known as the Core Quality Measures…
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New CCF Fact Sheet Shows Medicaid Provides Needed Access to Health Care for Families
Our new fact sheet summarizes research on access to care in Medicaid. We find that children and parents who rely on Medicaid for health care receive coverage that is comparable to private insurance and far better than the access accorded uninsured families. Children covered by Medicaid and those with private insurance access health care services…
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Medicaid Provides Needed Access to Care for Children and Families
Research shows that children and parents who rely on Medicaid for health care receive coverage that is comparable to private insurance and far better than the access accorded uninsured families. Children covered by Medicaid and those with private insurance access health care services across a variety of measures at comparable rates, while children who are…
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How Restructuring Medicaid Could Affect Children
More than one-third of America’s children rely on Medicaid for their health care, and more than half of Medicaid recipients are children. Medicaid’s existing structure has helped states respond to every economic downturn, natural disaster, epidemic or innovative treatment since the program was enacted in 1965. As recently as last year, Congress put forth proposals…
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Kaiser Family Foundation & CCF Release 50-State Medicaid/CHIP Survey
Today, the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families released their annual 50-state survey on Medicaid and CHIP eligibility, enrollment, renewal and cost-sharing policies. The survey is a “must read” report for anyone interested in health care policy and its impact on low-income children and families across the country. Tricia…
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Medicaid and CHIP Eligibility, Enrollment, Renewal, and Cost Sharing Policies: Findings from a 50-State Survey
This annual 50-state survey provides data on Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) eligibility, enrollment, renewal and cost sharing policies and identifies changes in these policies that occurred in the past year. This report documents the role Medicaid and CHIP play for low-income children and families and the evolution of these programs under the…
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New Mental Health Reforms are Built on the Premise of a Strong Health Care System
This week, Congress passed the 21st Century Cures Act, now headed to the President’s desk. The bill takes a number of steps to improve research and care quality in the healthcare system. Lesser known, the final agreement included mental health reforms that have been in the works for several years. These include helpful changes to…
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When it Comes to Monitoring the Quality of Children’s Health Care in Medicaid, the Golden State Could Fall Even Further Behind
Over 5 million kids in California rely on Medicaid services to grow up healthy and strong, making it by far the largest child-serving health insurance program in the nation. Yet, based on public reporting, California is far behind the nation when it comes to ensuring the quality of the health care provided to these children.…
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How Does California Perform on the Quality of Health Care for Children Enrolled in Medicaid and CHIP?
Since 2011, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has released an “Annual Report on the Quality of Care for Children in Medicaid and CHIP.” The report includes data submitted by the states on the Child Core Set of Health Care Quality Measures (child core set) and summarizes the results of the External…
