Support for this expert perspective was provided by the State Health and Value Strategies program, a grantee of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Foundation.

On July 23, 2024, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released a State Health Official (SHO) letter, “Provisions of Medicaid and CHIP Services to Incarcerated Youth.” The SHO letter provides implementation guidance on section 5121 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 (CAA), which requires states to provide targeted case management (TCM) and screening and diagnostic services for children and youth who are incarcerated post-disposition (i.e., post-conviction or adjudication) and enrolled in Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

Over the next several months and beyond, states will need to assess their information sharing needs related to CAA section 5121 implementation and provide guidance to carceral facilities, community-based providers, managed care organizations, and other implementation partners on supporting those needs in compliance with state and federal law.

Manatt Health’s Kinda Serafi, Jonah Frohlich, Chris Cantrell and Alice Leiter wrote a new expert perspective highlighting key areas of CAA implementation that require information sharing, which states will need to consider as they work towards coming into full compliance.

To read the full issue brief, click here.