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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Carol Tobias, MMHS¹, Deborah Allen, ScD¹, Sara Bachman, PhD², Susan Epstein, MSW³, and Meg Comeau, MHA¹. (1) Health and Disability Working Group, Boston University School of Public Health, 374 Congress Street, Suite 502, Boston, MA 02210, 617-426-4447, ext. 11, tcarol@bu.edu, (2) School of Social Work, Boston University, 264 Bay State Road, Boston, MA 02215, (3) New England SERVE, 101 Tremont Street, Suite 812, Boston, MA 02108

According to the National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs, approximately 12% of children and youth with special health care needs (CYSHCN) lack health insurance coverage at some point during the calendar year prior to the survey and many more are underinsured. One major challenge in addressing these issues is a lack of resources, information and expertise to help stakeholders identify and deploy ‘best practice' strategies for improving health care financing that have been tested elsewhere.

The Catalyst Center, a national center on health care insurance and financing for CYSHCN, is currently working on developing and disseminating innovative financing strategies through a series of key stakeholder surveys (Title V, Medicaid, selected state insurance commissions and family advocacy leaders) and the production of a “State-at-a-glance Chartbook on Insurance Coverage and Financing of Care for Children and Youth with Special Health Care Needs”. We are particularly interested in and will report on those innovative strategies, policies or programs which:

1. Expand coverage; 2. Pay for under-covered services; 3. Increase the effectiveness/efficiency of resource utilization; 4. Make a difference in the lives of CYSHCN and their families; and/or, 5. Have the potential for growth within or spread to other states.

This presentation will describe our methodology for developing the survey series and chartbook format. It will also report our findings on health care financing gaps for CYSHCN, innovative strategies for addressing them and implications of both gaps and interventions for key stakeholder constituencies.

Learning Objectives:

• 1. Identify the sources and implications of financing gaps, with regard to CYSHCN for key stakeholder constituencies, including families, providers and policy-makers
• 2. Describe our methodology for developing the survey series and the State-by-State Chartbook on Innovative Financing Strategies
• 3. Articulate our findings on how states are addressing financing gaps, particularly in the area of underinsurance, for CYSHCN through such innovative programs as Medicaid buy-in, catastrophic coverage, mandated benefits, risk adjustment, etc.

Related Web page: www.hdwg.org

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No