Schools

New Report Highlights Role Medicaid Can Play in Advancing Comprehensive School Mental Health Services

Last month, the Healthy Schools Campaign and Mental Health America released a new report titled, “State Policy Opportunities: Advancing Comprehensive School Mental Health Systems to Support Students”, which provides a new perspective on the key actors that can play a role in advancing comprehensive school mental health systems for students. But what counts as a […]

CMS Preps for Upcoming School Year with New Guidance on Leveraging Medicaid to Support School-Based Services

As summer is nearing its end, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is getting a jump on the new school year with a series of announcements aimed at improving children’s physical and mental health. As our colleague Kelly Whitener previewed last week, CMS released a number of Informational Bulletins (CIBs), including two related […]

Children’s Health and Well-Being Get Much Needed Attention from CMS this Week

CMS made three big announcements yesterday, drawing attention to ways Medicaid and CHIP can support children’s health and well-being. The first two announcements are sub-regulatory guidance documents, essentially bringing together all of the existing state options and best practices on behavioral health and school-based health. Sub-regulatory guidance doesn’t include new policy, but rather aims to […]

How Medicaid Can Help Schools Sustain Support for Students’ Mental Health

Among the Covid-19 pandemic’s most pernicious aftershocks is its impact on student mental health. Isolated at home, disconnected from friends, and suffering trauma from family members’ job losses or Covid-related deaths, students are experiencing high levels of anxiety and depression. About 44 percent of adolescents experienced persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness during the pandemic compared to […]

HHS Kicks off Mental Health Awareness Month with New Fact Sheet and a $25 Million Investment in School-Based Health Centers

Last week, HHS announced that they have awarded nearly $25 million to Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)-funded health centers that deliver services at school-based sites in underserved communities. These awards build upon the $5 million that HRSA distributed to new and existing school-based service sites in September 2021. Similar to last year’s round of […]

School-Based Health Care: One Answer to Ohio Children’s Unmet Health Care Needs

By Kelly Vyzral, Senior Health Policy Associate, Children’s Defense Fund Ohio February is School-Based Health Care Awareness Month. This is a great opportunity to talk about improving access to health care for Ohio’s children. All children deserve to grow up healthy with the opportunity to thrive into adulthood. But the reality is that in many […]