By Jocelyn A. Guyer, Managing Director, Manatt Health | Alice J. Lam, Director, Manatt Health | Madeleine Toups, Consultant, Manatt Health | Donna Cohen Ross, Senior Advisor, Center for the Study of Social Policy
Nearly half of children under age 3 in the United States get their health insurance through Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). With such broad reach, these programs can play a powerful role in steering the course of care delivery to ensure it addresses the social and emotional health of young children. Given that early social and emotional health contributes to a child’s lifelong prospects for physical and behavioral health, school success, and productivity, it is critical to make social and emotional health interventions a routine part of pediatric care.
In a new Blueprint, Manatt Health and the Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP) describe a set of strategies and tools that state Medicaid and CHIP agencies, managed care plans, pediatric care providers, and others can use to optimize the social and emotional development of young children through pediatric practice. The Blueprint will also be discussed in a webinar hosted by Manatt Health, CSSP and the Pediatrics Supporting Parents Initiative. For more information and to register, see How Can Medicaid and CHIP Support Children’s Emotional Health?
The Blueprint and webinar will focus on five core strategies available through Medicaid and CHIP:
1. Cover and support a full range of screening, assessment and treatment services for children and their parents to promote children’s social and emotional development.
2. Leverage quality and performance improvement initiatives to spur changes in pediatric practice.
3. Establish payment models that support and incentivize a focus on the social and emotional development of children, ideally as part of a high-performing pediatric medical home.
4. Facilitate investment in team-based care and training on children’s social and emotional development.
5. Leverage a CHIP Health Services Initiative to finance interventions aimed at supporting children’s social and emotional development.
Read the full Blueprint here.