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Medicaid

  • Medicaid Expansion: Driving Innovation in Behavioral Health Integration

    Adam Searing

    By Jack Hoadley and Adam Searing Safety-net providers in states that have accepted the federal funding available for Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) are experiencing a positive ripple effect, where increased insurance coverage rates among patients and thus greater financial security for safety-net institutions are translating into better care. We found that…

  • Florida and Utah Remove 5-Year Wait for Legal Immigrant Children

    Cathy Hope

    July 1 will be a great day for children living in Florida and Utah as the five-year Medicaid/CHIP waiting period for legal immigrant children will be eliminated. Now 30 states and DC have accepted the Immigrant Children’s Health Improvement Act (ICHIA) option passed into law as part of the reauthorization of CHIP in 2009. (Note:…

  • Using Data to Document and Improve EPSDT Participation

    Kelly Whitener

    For the second part of our series on EPSDT, we’ll turn our attention to data. If you missed the first part, go back for a moment to catch up before continuing. CMS-416 The official federal data source for EPSDT is the CMS-416 form. States are required to use this form to report EPSDT data to…

  • Thanks to Improvements Made After Hurricane Katrina, Louisiana is Better-Prepared for a Medicaid Enrollment Boost

    Guest

    By A.J. Custer Starting July 1st, low-income adults in Louisiana will gain health insurance benefits, as the state officially becomes the 31st state to expand Medicaid. Enrollment has already begun and the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals predicts an estimated 375,000 people will enroll in Louisiana’s Medicaid program over the next year. The program…

  • Kentucky’s Proposed Waiver Could Undermine its Successful Medicaid Expansion

    Adam Searing

    By Sean Miskell and Adam Searing Kentucky has released a new Medicaid waiver request for state public comment today. This proposal would allow the state to make significant changes to its existing Medicaid program, affecting not only those newly eligible beneficiaries currently receiving health care through Kentucky’s existing Medicaid expansion, but also others served by…

  • Medicaid/CHIP Managed Care Series

    Tricia Brooks

    The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) finalized sweeping Medicaid and CHIP managed care regulations earlier this year. The rules cover a wide range of topics important to children and low-income families such as improving consumer information, enhancing the beneficiary experience, assuring network adequacy and access to services, advancing quality, and ensuring accountability and transparency. The sheer…

  • Embracing an Opportunity to Measure Value in Children’s Health Care

    Guest

    By Suzanne Brundage, originally posted on www.uhfnyc.org Most people in the child health community—and almost assuredly all readers of “Say Ahhh!”—are aware of the ways in which children’s health and their use of health care services differ from those of the adult population. Key differences include the prominence of prevention efforts in children’s health, the relatively…

  • How the New Medicaid/CHIP Managed Care Regulations Improve Consumer Information

    Tricia Brooks

    As my colleague, Kelly Whitener, announced last week, thanks to a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, CCF has teamed with NHeLP to launch a series of explainer briefs to unpack the new Medicaid/CHIP managed care regulations. The first brief, Looking at the New Medicaid/CHIP Regulations Through a Children’s Lens, was published last week.…

  • Medicaid/CHIP Managed Care Regulations: Improving Consumer Information

    Tricia Brooks

    Over the past decade or so as managed care has become the predominant delivery system in Medicaid and CHIP, there has been a growing recognition of the need for current, accurate, and thorough consumer information to aid potential managed care enrollees in making an informed plan selection and in understanding how to maximize their benefits…

  • Study: Medicaid Offers Stronger Cost Sharing Protections Compared with Marketplace Coverage

    CCFadmin

    By Sean Miskell When we consider the effects of state decisions not to expand Medicaid, we rightfully focus much of our attention on those that are locked out of coverage. However, a new study by researchers at the Commonwealth Fund considers the experience of consumers above the poverty line that are eligible for subsidized Marketplace…

  • New Resource from CLASP Highlight Innovations to Address Maternal Depression

    Alisa Chester

    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…

  • Introducing our Medicaid/CHIP Managed Care Series

    Kelly Whitener

    As readers of Say Ahhh! know all too well, CMS recently finalized sweeping Medicaid and CHIP managed care regulations. The rules cover a wide range of topics important to children and low-income families, like improving consumer information, enhancing the beneficiary experience, assuring network adequacy and access to services, advancing quality and ensuring accountability and transparency.…

  • Looking at the New Medicaid/CHIP Managed Care Regulations Through a Children’s Lens

    Kelly Whitener

    In May 2016, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) finalized sweeping regulatory changes for managed care in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Almost nine of every 10 children enrolled in Medicaid and CHIP receive health care through a managed care arrangement. This paper examines the impact of Medicaid/CHIP Managed Care…

  • A Missed Opportunity to Learn from Wisconsin’s Health Reform Implementation

    Guest

    By Jon Peacock, Wisconsin Council on Children and Families Wisconsin received a federal waiver to make significant changes to BadgerCare in 2014, and one of the conditions of that “demonstration waiver” was that the state would evaluate the effects of the policy changes. A national health policy expert, Sara Rosenbaum, reviewed the planned evaluation and…

  • Fact Sheet: Medicaid’s Role for Children

    Alisa Chester

    Medicaid is an essential source of health coverage for the nation’s children. The program provides health coverage to children and parents in low-income families who lack access to affordable private health insurance, as well as to children with special health care needs.

  • Florida’s Medicaid Managed Care Program Has Considerable Room for Improvement

    Joan Alker

    I’m here in Sarasota, Florida today to release our new study looking at the quality of care for the approximately two million kids receiving health care services through Florida’s Medicaid managed care program. The study was commissioned by the Sarasota Herald-Tribune and supported by the Community Foundation of Sarasota County. We appreciate their wonderful partnership on…

  • How Is Florida’s Medicaid Managed Care Working for Children?

    Joan Alker

    How is Florida’s Medicaid managed care working for children? To answer this question, we looked at existing data sources and also conducted a survey of pediatricians in Florida. Our results suggest there is considerable room for improvement in Medicaid managed care for Florida’s children.

  • Infant-Early Childhood Mental Health Matters

    Guest

    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…

  • Beyond the Reduction in Uncompensated Care: Medicaid Expansion Is Having a Positive Impact on Safety Net Hospitals and Clinics

    Adam Searing

    More than two years after the onset of expanded Medicaid coverage, significant differences are emerging between states that opted to expand Medicaid and those that did not. This report contains the findings of telephone interviews with eleven leaders of hospital systems and federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) in seven states. Three of the states where we conducted interviews…

  • Six States Hold the Key to Reaching Nearly Half of the Uninsured Kids Who Are Eligible for Medicaid/CHIP

    Guest

    By Genevieve M. Kenney, Jennifer Haley, Clare Pan, Victoria Lynch, and Matthew Buettgens, Urban Institute, Funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation We recently examined how children’s coverage fared during the first year of implementation of the major coverage provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). We found increases in participation in Medicaid and the Children’s…