Improving Care Delivery for Children: Leveraging the Medicaid Benefit for Children and Adolescents
States around the country are actively working to improve service delivery under the Medicaid benefit for children and adolescents (also known as the Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic, and Treatment benefit or EPSDT), Medicaid’s comprehensive and preventive child health program for individuals under the age of 21. The benefit provides tens of millions of children with access to a range of preventive, screening, and treatment services, as well as vision, dental, and hearing services. The benefit is critical to early identification of health conditions, as well as to maintaining and improving the health of low-income children, making it a key priority for states as they strive to improve population health.
This webinar will draw together Medicaid officials from three states for a conversation about how they have worked to improve the Medicaid benefit for children in their states. Speakers from Iowa, the District of Columbia, and Minnesota will discuss strategies for improving access and service delivery for Medicaid-enrolled children. The conversation will have a particular emphasis on efforts in these states to better coordinate care, use public health resources to deliver benefits, collect data on and improve quality, and enhance access and delivery of behavioral health services for children. This webinar is the first in a series on the Medicaid benefit for children and adolescents: future webinars will delve more deeply into oral health, adolescent health, and care coordination.
Speakers/Presenters:
- Eliot Fishman, Director of the Children and Adults Health Programs Group, Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
- Glenace Edwall, Director of the Children’s Mental Health Division, Minnesota Department of Human Services
- Colleen Sonosky, Associate Director of the D.C. Department of Health Care Finance
- Jennifer Vermeer, Medicaid Director, Iowa Department of Human Services
| Download Webinar Agenda | 29.6 KB |
| Download Webinar Slides | 1.4 MB |
For individuals living with complex, often chronic conditions, and their families, palliative care can provide relief from symptoms, improve satisfaction and outcomes, and help address critical mental and spiritual needs during difficult times. Now more than ever, there is growing recognition of the importance of palliative care services for individuals with serious illness, such as advance care planning, pain and symptom management, care coordination, and team-based, multi-disciplinary support. These services can help patients and families cope with the symptoms and stressors of disease, better anticipate and avoid crises, and reduce unnecessary and/or unwanted care. While this model is grounded in evidence that demonstrates improved quality of life, better outcomes, and reduced cost for patients, only a fraction of individuals who could benefit from palliative care receive it. 
