- ACA Implementation & State Health Reform
- Coverage and Access
- Federal/State Issues
- Medicaid and CHIP
- Population and Public Health
- Providers and Services
- Acute Care
- Assisted Living
- Behavioral Health
- Case Management
- Child Development Services
- Chronic Care Management
- Community Health Centers
- Developmental Screening
- Early Childhood Services
- Emergency Care
- EPSDT
- Family Planning
- Federally Qualified Health Centers
- Home & Community Based Services
- Hospitals
- Long Term Services & Supports
- Medical Homes & Health Homes
- Mental Health
- Nursing Homes
- Oral Health
- Preventive Care
- Primary Care
- Safety Net Providers
- Quality, Cost, and Health System Performance
- ACOs
- Adverse Event Reporting
- Care Transitions
- Comparative Effectiveness
- Cost Sharing
- Delivery System Reform
- Fraud and Abuse
- Health Care Workforce
- Health Information Technology
- Managed Care
- Medical Homes & Health Homes
- Medical Malpractice
- Patient Safety
- Payment Reform
- Performance Measurement
- Provider Payment Policy
- Quality Oversight
- Specific Populations
- Adolescents
- Childless Adults
- Children
- Children with Special Health Care Needs
- Dual Eligibles
- Elders
- Families
- Low Income People
- Parents
- People with Chronic Conditions
- People with Developmental Disabilities
- Transitional Youth
- Vulnerable Populations
- Young Adults
- Youth
- Youth in Foster Care System
- Youth in Juvenile Justice System
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Oklahoma's Web Portal: Fostering Care Coordination Between Primary Care and Community Service Providers
This is the second in the series of Assuring Better Child Health and Development (ABCD) III Innovation Briefs. This new brief focuses on the web-based referral and tracking system ("web portal") that Oklahoma has built into its pre-existing Preventive Services Reminder System. The state designed this web portal to improve care coordination for children with or at risk for developmental delays. Oklahoma is already considering ways to adapt the web portal for other services and populations.
February 2012» -
The Affordable Care Act and Children with Special Health Care Needs
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) provides states with some important tools that can be utilized to provide more continuous, adequate and affordable coverage for children with special health care needs (CSHCN). How the law is interpreted and whether implementation challenges are addressed with the unique needs of CSHCN in mind will shape how well the ACA fulfills its promise to this vulnerable population. This paper developed by the National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP) for the Catalyst Center at Boston University reviews and analyzes key provisions of the ACA relevant for CSHCN and provides suggestions for state policymakers.
Download here: The Affordable Care Act and Children with Special Health Care Needs
January 2011 -
Engaging Parents as Partners to Support Early Child Health and Development
Ensuring and coordinating services that support young children's healthy development requires strong and effective partnerships between families and health care providers. This brief puts forth a three-part framework for engaging parents in supporting healthy child development: parents engaging with: 1) their child, 2) the services and programs they receive, and 3) the larger systems and policies that govern those services. It describes each level of engagement, explains why each is critical to improving care coordination and services for young children, and gives examples of how states can incorporate parent partnerships into their work. The framework represents a dynamic structure in which the three types of partnership support and inform each other.May 2010» -
Improving EPSDT Periodicity Schedules to Promote Healthy Development
Medicaid’s Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnosis and Treatment (EPSDT) benefit is comprehensively designed to promote children’s healthy development. EPSDT includes outreach, comprehensive well-child visits (referred to as EPSDT screens), treatment and case management. In recent years states have recognized that it is important to identify and treat developmental delays early in a child’s life. EPSDT screens are designed to identify any physical, developmental, oral or mental health condition a child may have, as well as provide parents (and adolescents) with information to help them promote the child’s optimal development. This State Health Policy Briefing summarizes findings from a review of state websites and an informal survey of state EPSDT Coordinators designed to identify the extent to which states were revising EPSDT schedules to adopt improved standards of care.October 2009» -
Measurement to Support Effective Identification of Children at Risk for Developmental Delay
This State Health Policy Briefing is the third in a series examining the efforts of 19 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico to improve identification of children with or at risk for developmental delay. For 15 months, ending in July 2008, these states and territories worked together, with the support of NASHP and The Commonwealth Fund, to make policy and practice changes that supported primary care providers’ use of a validated developmental screening tool as part of well child care. Screening Academy members received an intensive program of technical assistance during these 15 months, including assistance to support measurement. This briefing examines the efforts of the 21 members to produce meaningful data to make the case for change, develop training targeted to primary care provider needs, and assess whether changes produced the intended effect. By the end of these 15 months:April 2009 -
ABCD Screening Academy Progress Report: Improving the Identification of Young Children At-Risk for Developmental Delay
Since 2000, the Assuring Better Child Health and Development (ABCD) Initiative has shown that states can take action to facilitate pediatric provider use of a developmental screening tool and that doing so is an important first step in improving the delivery of child development services. The Initiative's partners - NASHP and The Commonwealth Fund - have for the past 18 months conducted the ABCD Screening Academy. Participating states have been working together to identify and implement the policies and practices that move the use of standardized developmental screening tools as part of well-child care from a best practice to a standard practice. This new publication summarizes the progress of ABCD Screening Academy participating states toward policy and practice improvement during the first phase of the project.September 2008 -
The Role of State Health Policy in Multi-Sector System and Service Linkages for Young Children
Children must be healthy in order to learn. Their motor skills, coordination, and overall physical health affect social-emotional and cognitive development and academic achievement. The domains of child development are interrelated, demanding a multi-sector approach to foster healthy development. Yet, cross-sector service coordination remains a challenge. Increasingly, states are recognizing that healthy development requires attention to interrelated developmental needs of children and families, leading them to plan more integrated services. State health policy makers and program administrators, using their authority as health care purchasers, regulators, data warehouses, conveners, and educators, can help bridge the gap between the health sector and other early childhood resources by developing policies that promote coordination at both the state and local levels. With funding from the W.K.September 2008 -
Improving the Delivery Health Care that Supports Young Children's Healthy Mental Development: Update on Accomplishments and Lessons from a Five-State Consortium
The five states that participated in the second Assuring Better Child Health and Development (ABCD II) Consortium were successful in improving child development services, increasing the rate of identification of children in need of developmental services, and improving the likelihood that those identified with a potential need received appropriate follow-up services. The results of the 3-year project are detailed in a new report from the National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP), Improving the Delivery of Health Care that Supports Young Children’s Healthy Mental Development: Update on the Accomplishments and Lessons from a Five-State Consortium.February 2008 -
Key Measurement Issues in Screening, Referral, and Follow-Up Care for Young Children’s Social and Emotional Development
This report is designed to assist states in assessing the effectiveness of their efforts to strengthen mental health services for very young children. The paper is an outgrowth of the work conducted by the five states involved in the ABCD II Consortium, an initiative of NASHP and The Commonwealth Fund that seeks to improve the delivery of services needed by very young children to ensure their healthy mental development. All five states needed reliable and valid measures to inform implementation efforts and ongoing program evaluation.April 2005 -
ABCD: Lessons from a Four-State Consortium
This report summarizes the lessons learned from a four-state collaborative concerned with strengthening the capacity of the health care system to support the early development of children from low-income families. The consortium was the first effort in the Assuring Better Child Health and Development (ABCD) initiative conducted by NASHP. The report details both the significant accomplishments of the four states and the challenges they faced in their efforts to strengthen early childhood development services.December 2003
