Title V, Medicaid, family leader staff share insights on state financing strategies for CSHCN

What have we done for you lately?

Thanks to Title V, Medicaid, and family leader staff who shared their insights on state financing strategies impacting children with special health care needs (CSHCN)
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Earlier this month, the Catalyst Center team wrapped up its Structured Interview Project on state financing strategies that impact children with special health care needs (CSHCN). Over the course of 15 months, we interviewed 45 Title V/CSHCN program staff, 34 Medicaid representatives, and 40 family leaders in the states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. Among other things, we learned about:
- The impact of the Affordable Care Act
- Innovative financing policies that ensure children with special health care needs have access to the services and providers they need
- Strategies states have implemented to reach all children with special health care needs, including CSHCN by race and ethnicity, whose primary language spoken at home is not English, older CSHCN, and CSHCN who have the most functional difficulties
- Interagency partnerships
Starting next month, we will be using this monthly update to share snapshots from our findings. At the AMCHP (Association of Maternal & Child Health Programs) meeting in January, we will present our findings about partnerships that promote Title V/CSHCN transformation.

Inequities in Insurance Coverage and Financing of Care among Children with Special Health Care Needs (CSHCN): Family Perspectives
--We need your help reaching out to families of children with special health care needs (CSHCN) who face inequities in coverage and financing. This includes families of CSHCN who represent:

Families of color
Immigrants and families from diverse cultural backgrounds
Those who speak a language other than English, and
Those with low income

Please share information about our Family Perspectives project on your Facebook pages, listservs, in your e-newsletters, via word of mouth, and other dissemination vehicles.

The Family Perspectives materials are available in Spanish and we can conduct family interviews in Spanish. Let us know if you prefer to receive the materials (in English or Spanish) as e-mail attachments. Have questions? Need more info? Feel free to e-mail Kasey Wilson, Catalyst Center Research Assistant.

On behalf of the Catalyst Center team, thank you for assisting with the dissemination and outreach for this important work.

In case you missed it (other news of note)

Health Advocate: Autism Spectrum Disorders

The October 2015 issue of Health Advocate, the e-newsletter from the National Health Law Program (NHELP) provides an overview of the guidance from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) about the use of the federally mandated EPSDT (Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic, and Treatment) benefit to provide autism-related services, including ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis) therapy, to children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorders.

About the Catalyst Center

The Catalyst Center, the National Center for Health Insurance and Financing for Children and Youth with Special Health Care Needs, is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under grant number U41MC13618, $473,000. This information or content and conclusions are those of the Catalyst Center staff and should not be construed as the official position or policy of nor should any endorsements be inferred by HRSA, HHS, or the U.S. Government.
LT Leticia Manning, MPH, MCHB/HRSA Project Officer.

Visit our website at www.catalystctr.org Boston University.

Catalyst Center, Health & Disability Working Group

at Boston University School of Public Health